Ancient Trouble
by Wicked Swann
Summary: Sequel to Breakfast at Merlotte's. Eric is named king of a vampire Mardi Gras krewe and must travel to New Orleans. OFC Peggy, OFC Anne Marie, Sam, Sookie, Bill & Pam join him.
1. Chapter 1

"Anne Marie, this pie is divine!"

"Aw, it jes a lil sumtin I whip up so we all have a excuse to get together for coffee…"

Margaret Hunter, also known as Peggy, was sitting at the table in the renovated kitchen of her Louisiana antebellum plantation house with her two closest friends, Sookie Stackhouse and Anne Marie Boudreaux. All three were nibbling on slices of blackberry pie topped with real, fresh-made whipped cream. Anne Marie and Sookie had arrived in the late afternoon, and just now the sun was setting outside. Peggy noted this particularly since she heard the front door slam. Her boyfriend Eric was going out to the mailbox to get the mail.

Boyfriend was an odd word to describe Eric, Peggy mused as she took another bite of pie. After all, he was a thousand year old Viking vampire, and he had inherited her from his Maker, Godric, when Godric had gone into the sunlight and perished nearly six months ago.

"I always find it weird to call Bill my boyfriend, too," said Sookie, then she blushed adorably. Sookie was a telepath and sometimes she forgot not to read her friends minds.

"Soon you be callin' him yo' husband, you," Anne Marie said, winking broadly at Sookie, who was wearing a diamond engagement ring. Anne Marie was a red-haired Cajun cook who worked with Sookie at Merlotte's Bar and Grill here in Bon Temps, Louisiana. She was also dating Sam Merlotte, owner of the bar… and she was a shape shifter. Peggy had waitressed at Merlotte's for awhile, but she had been a terrible waitress and finally she had given it up.

Peggy felt like an ordinary human compared to the two bright women here with her, and she supposed she was. She was lucky to count them as friends at all. Neither of them were particularly fond of Eric, and both with good reason. Still, if they and Sam hadn't been her friends she would have had none at all besides Eric (she could hardly count his minions, the other vampires of Area Five, most of whom she knew when they came to work their time at Eric's vampire bar, Fangtasia, up in Shreveport.)

"Have you and Bill set a date?" Peggy asked Sookie politely.

"Not yet," said Sookie, "Though I have my dress, and Sam has offered to give us an engagement party at the bar."

"Bout time!" Anne Marie grinned. "You all been engage for mo'n half a year!"

"I think it's thanks to you," said Sookie, her eyes glowing. "I've never seen Sam so happy. Maybe you two will be next!"

Anne Marie just chuckled and took another bite of pie.

"And of course, we will give you an engagement party at Fangtasia as well, Sookie," said Eric, strolling into the kitchen, not looking at any of the women but casually flipping through his pile of mail. Absently he bent and kissed Peggy on the forehead, which was not the least bit satisfactory in her book.

"That is NOT necessary, Eric," said Sookie firmly. Eric moved his eyes from the mail to the buxom blonde waitress and Peggy quelled a spasm of jealousy. He smiled in all innocence.

"Oh, but I insist," he said softly. "Besides, it will make Pam so happy. You know she loves to host human style gatherings."

"I'm sure she'll be thrilled," said Peggy. Eric's eyes moved from Sookie to her, cool and accessing at first, but smoldering with undeniable and unhidden lust a few seconds later. If he didn't stop acting like a jackass, that lust wasn't going to be satisfied tonight, Peggy thought, and Sookie giggled.

"You got up early," Eric said in a soft, almost sulky tone. Normally she stayed in bed until sunset, keeping vampire hours, and Eric awakened her in an extremely pleasant manner. The thought of that combined with a jolt of guilt made Peggy catch her breath.

"I wanted to spend a little time with the girls before they went to work," she said calmly, trying not to betray her feelings to Eric. Besides, that much was true.

"You wan' a slice o'pie, Eric Northman?" asked Anne Marie with her deep Cajun twang. Eric gave her a withering look. "Oh, I plum forgot you can't eat none." Mischief twinkled in her green eyes.

"I will give your regards to your cousin Pearletta," Eric replied smoothly, jolting the look from her face. Anne Marie's cousin Pearletta had become a vampire during an unfortunate incident six months previously, and though the two had tried to keep up their close friendship, it had not been easy.

"Maybe Sam and I come by Fangtasia one night soon," Anne Marie replied, trying to sound pleasant but not quite making it.

"You are always welcome," Eric said just as pleasantly, then he sat down at the table with the three women, effectively ending the shared camaraderie they had been enjoying before he had risen. Pretending no interest in the coffee klatch he went back to reading his mail.

"Eric," said Peggy sharply.

"Yes, Margaret?" he looked at her in all innocence.

"Do you mind?"

"Not at all. You ladies go on and finish your…pie." He made it sound about as appetizing as if they were eating road kill.

"What are you doing here?" Peggy said in exasperation.

"I live here," he replied sensibly.

"I mean in the kitchen. You don't have much call to be in the kitchen." She tried to keep her tone pleasant for the sake of not embarrassing her friends.

"Reading my mail." Eric held up the handful of mail, then looked at it again and began discarding it piece by piece onto the table until he was left holding a large parchment envelope embossed with shiny gold type. He frowned at it.

"Can you read it somewhere else?" Peggy hissed.

"I might want a Blood." He waved the letter at the large, silver double-door refrigerator.

"You could take one with you."

"Well, I don't want it yet…" he frowned at the envelope.

"Eric!" Peggy snapped, but the ornate design on the stationery caught her eye as he ripped it open.

Eric cursed in Swedish. Peggy's cheeks turned pink and she was glad that, as far as she knew, neither of her friends spoke Swedish.

"What is it?" asked Sookie, who seemed to no longer be able to hold in her curiosity.

Eric answered, though he looked at Peggy. "I've been named King."

All three women gasped.

"King of Louisiana?" asked Peggy, her eyes wide. Eric was already Sheriff of Area Five. She knew he could be both Sheriff and King at once, but she also knew it would keep him extremely busy and she selfishly wished he would be less busy instead of more. "What happened to Sophie-Anne?"

"Sophie-Anne is fine, as far as I know," Eric said curtly. "I have been named king of the Krewe of Ancients."

"For Mardi Gras?" asked Sookie, though the question was largely rhetorical.

"What de Krewe of Ancients?" asked Anne Marie.

"It's an all-vampire Mardi Gras Krewe," said Peggy. "This is their first year, and they're giving a parade in New Orleans on Lundi Gras, the night before Mardi Gras – though of course you know that. Eric… that's an honor."

"If by honor you mean an inconvenience, then yes," said Eric, scowling.

Peggy considered for a moment whether he looked more handsome when he was scowling or when he was smiling, and decided it was a tie. She also saw Sookie roll her eyes. She reached across the table and smacked her hand gently to tell her to stop reading her mind.

"The Vampire Businessmen's Association of Louisiana has been hoping to draw tourism back to New Orleans by forming an all-vampire krewe," said Peggy. "Eric, you have to accept."

"It will make me a target," Eric said firmly. "Trapped on a rolling parade float for several hours."

"Then you definitely gotta accept," Anne Marie said, with an innocent smile.

"There will be enormous amounts of security," said Peggy.

"You ain' never been ta Mardi Gras, have you?" Anne Marie said.

"Well, no… though I have been to New Orleans. Godric used to take me there, sometimes. He has… had… many friends there."

"I will have to spend a great deal of time dancing attendance on Sophie-Anne," Eric groused.

"I have never met her," Peggy mused.

Eric arched an eyebrow. "Godric was wise to keep you from her."

Peggy took Eric's hand and looked into his large blue eyes. "Please Eric. You should do this."

"You want to go," Eric said, smiling faintly. "You are a pleasure-seeker." The way he said it sounded absolutely filthy, both exciting her and embarrassing her at the same time.

"I…um… and the girls could come, too."

"I have no interest in going to Mardi Gras," Sookie said firmly.

"Not even if I command Bill to come with me, and to bring a companion?" Eric asked wickedly. Sookie glared at him.

"Me, I'd love to go," said Anne Marie. "I got family in N'awlins. Plus I wan' see someone shoot Eric off de top a Mardi Gras float."

"Fantastic," said Eric, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"That won't happen," Peggy said softly, determinedly, as if she could prevent it.

"I'm sure you'll be fine," Sookie said to Eric. She stood up. "Come on, Anne Marie, we're going to be late for work."

"Oh, Sam forgive us," Anne Marie said, but she stood too.

Peggy got up and hugged them both. Eric went back to staring at his letter, not bothering to say good-bye. Peggy walked them to the front door, thanking Anne Marie again for the pie. She closed the door behind them and turned around to find Eric standing directly behind her. The letter was still in his hand.

"Do you really want me to do this?" he asked, his voice husky, his fangs protruding slightly.

Peggy nodded. "Yes," she said, her voice barely a whisper… and then she was in Eric's arms, and the shiny stationery fell to the floor, to be forgotten for quite some time.


	2. Chapter 2

"Absolutely not," said Sam as the luscious Anne Marie proposed the idea to him. "You want us to go to New Orleans, for Mardi Gras, with a bunch of vampires?"

Anne Marie tied on her apron and began getting out the things she would need to make her famous Boudan Balls and gumbo. She banged the pans around a little harder than necessary and Sam knew she was angry with him.

"Sam, I wan' us go to Mardi Gras wi' my frens Peggy an' Sookie," she said. "Ain' my fault if they datin' vampires."

Sam considered this while he watched her viciously chop some okra until he nearly felt sorry for it. Her pretty red curls bobbed around her freckled face and the deep breathing that came from her angry chopping drew his attention to one of her finer assets. He silently congratulated himself again on his choice of uniform for the Merlotte's staff. It did her no harm.

"Anne Marie—"

"Stop starin' at my bosoms and makin' up escuses."

"Normally you don't mind if I—"

Anne Marie stopped chopping and looked at Sam in frustration. "I know you a man, and you got a man's lusts, but we at work, Sam."

Sam felt a pinch of annoyance at the reminder, but mostly annoyance at himself because she was right. "Sorry," he mumbled, "I just don't think traveling anywhere with Eric Northman is a good idea."

"You scared a him?"

"No! I think Peggy ought to find herself another man, but I sure ain't scared of him," Sam insisted. "That doesn't mean I want to keep his company."

"I don' like Eric Northman none either," Anne Marie said, "But Peggy an' me have got close. I got to look out for dat chile."

Sam grinned. "I know the feeling."

"'Sides, my brothers live in N'awlins. You maybe might could meet 'em."

Sam paused. He hated to mention that he didn't care much for the brothers of hers that he had met. Dare he hope that the other two were different? "I'd like that," he said cautiously.

Anne Marie looked at him and arched an eyebrow.

"What?"

"Sam."

"I'm trying!"

Anne Marie smiled at him fondly then. She wiped her hands on her apron and stepped towards him, putting her hands on his cheeks and kissing him. Sam groaned into her mouth, wrapped around her, pulled her close. He didn't care if they were at work. Nothing mattered but her, but this.

Eventually she let go, pulled away gently. Her eyes were soft with desire, her movements fluid, graceful, filled with wanting he could see. He opened his mouth, but she put a finger against his lips.

"Don' you even tempt me wid sneakin' off to your trailer right now, you. I got food to cook."

"Aw, Anne Marie, you're so hard on me," Sam complained. Her lips twitched and he saw a naughty joke behind her eyes, but she was too much of a lady to say it out loud. "All right. If I can get the bar covered, we'll go to Mardi Gras."

"Thank you, Sam," Anne Marie said very modestly. She turned back to the gumbo and he knew she was pleased.

"I haven't had a vacation in years," Sam said thoughtfully.

"Do you some good."

"I've never been to New Orleans."

Anne Marie turned around. "Never?"

Sam grinned. "Too many vampires."

Anne Marie just shook her head. "Speakin' a vampires, we all ready for Sookie an' Bill's party tomorrow night. At leas' de food ready. Everting prep, and I cook it up on time jes roun' sunset.."

"I just got a few cases of True Blood in," said Sam, "That should take care of Bill's…friends." He sighed. "I never thought Sookie would go through with this," he said softly. "She could do so much better."

"Could she?" Anne Marie asked. "Ain' a lot of single men in Bon Temps, and mos' ain' worth shakin' a stick at. Vampire Bill ain' the worst vampire out there."

"Eric Northman is a lot worse," Sam said, thinking of Peggy. Anne Marie nodded in agreement. "On the plus side, he still owes me a debt, so I suppose going to New Orleans with them will be safe enough."

"Now you thinkin'," said Anne Marie. She paused, and put down her vegetable knife. "You sure you over Miss Sookie, Sam Merlotte?"

Sam looked at her with dismay. "Course I am," he said tenderly. "You know there ain't no one for me but you, Anne Marie."

"Long's you sure."

"I'm sure." He would have kissed her again to show her, but at that rate the gumbo would never get made, and orders for it were already coming in. Sam leaned back against the corner and tried to think of thoughts that would cool his ardor.

"So, tell me about your brothers, the ones who live in New Orleans," Sam said.

"You know I has a big family, and we ver' close," said Anne Marie. "Gran-mawmaw was so'pset when Nicolas an' Simone move to N'awlins. I was jes only fifteen when dat happen. But we go an' visit a few times, and she forgive dem right quick. Now she so proud o'Nicolas. He work in one dem fancy restaurants. I take you dere, but you gotta wear a necktie."

Sam grinned. "I might have one."

"I cain't imagine it."

"No? Am I that casual?" Sam tried to pretend to be offended but he was by far too amused.

"Yes, you is. Anyway, you bring a necktie, you, and I take you dere."

"I will. And what about Simone."

"Well… maybe we only see Nicolas."

"What? Why?" Sam demanded.

Anne Marie's freckled cheeks turned pink. "Simone, he special, him."

Sam wondered that meant, but if she didn't want to tell him, there was no use trying to pry it out of him. "Okay," he said agreeably.

"You like Nicolas much better dan Johnny Bob and Roget," Anne Marie promised. She didn't mention Andre, the brother who had been killed several months ago. It was still a raw subject. Andre had attacked Eric and Peggy, but he was still Anne Marie's brother and she had loved him.

"Are they…like us?" Sam asked, not wanting to say shape shifter aloud, though the bar was so noisy that it was unlikely that they would have been overheard.

"Dey all gator," Anne Marie said. "You an' me, we do anything, but in my fam'ly all the mens jes do gator."

"Really!" Sam thought that was interesting. He knew there were differences in all of the type of shape shifting creatures – shifters like him and Anne Marie, Werewolves, and other were animals. He just had not met many of them before he had met the Boudreauxs. "So are all the women true shifters?"

"Mos' of 'em. Gran-mawmaw. Some my aunties. Pearletta, she was...but not now."

Anne Marie's green eyes darkened. Sam knew she hated that her cousin Pearletta had been made into a vampire and lost her shape shifting ability in the bargain. Yet if she hadn't been turned, she would have died, and Sam knew that the shared link between the shifters and vampires of Shreveport, while very tenuous, was important to maintain. Pearletta's unwitting sacrifice had brought peace. To Sam, that meant safety for himself and his friends, but he would never had dismissed Anne Marie's feelings out of hand.

"I never realized how powerful your people are," Sam said softly, "And your mother?"

"Momma gone. She gone when I was little. Gran-mawmaw raise me up."

Sam wasn't sure whether Anne Marie meant gone as in dead, or run off and he was prudent enough not to ask, for now. He did slip closer and kiss her on the forehead, which made Anne Marie smile at him fondly.

"Tase this." She lifted her wooden spoon to his mouth.

Sam bit back a groan. "It's prefect." He tilted his head thoughtfully.

"But?" prompted Anne Marie

Sam felt a tingle of warning. "But nothing, it's perfect!"

"You think it need sumptin. I see in your eyes, Sam."

"Well…" Damn, he didn't want to say a word. He didn't want to unwittingly piss her off. "I guess it could use a dash more hot sauce. But really, it's so minor. And we have hot sauce on the tables, people can add their own."

"Sam Merlotte!" Anne Marie said righteously. "No dey can not add dere own. I serve my food perfec'."

Her green eyes gleamed and Sam felt his stomach twist. He flashed back on the time he had been dating… well, seeing… ok, to be honest, sleeping with Tara Thornton. He had managed to do nothing but step on her pride over and over.

"Uh…" he scrambled to find something to say. The last thing he wanted was this beautiful, feisty Cajun woman who he loved so deeply to be angry with him.

Anne Marie lifted the spoon to her pink mouth and licked at it. Her tongue darted over the wooden utensil and Sam had to bite back a groan. Damn, she made him unnaturally horny!

She nodded. "You right." She picked up the hot sauce, stirred it into the gumbo, then tasted again. Finally she ladled it into the waiting bowls of rice. "SOOKIE!" she yelled. "Order up!"


	3. Chapter 3

"Absolutely not," Peggy heard Bill Compton say to his fiancée as they preceded her and Eric into Merlotte's. Peggy didn't even have to look at Eric to know that he was smirking. "We are not going to Mardi Gras, Sookie. It's far too dangerous."

"Good," Sookie said sounding a bit relieved. Then she stopped walking, right in the doorway, and turned around to face Peggy. Because Sookie stopped and turned, Bill did as well. Peggy knew Sookie could read her disappointment right out of her mind.

"But, Sookie—"

"I—"

Eric interrupted both of them. "Of course you're going, Bill," he said, looking the other vampire straight in the eye. "I insist."

Bill glowered at Eric, his dark eyes looking even darker. "Why, Eric?"

"Peggy wants Sookie to come," Eric said in an amused tone.

"Sookie doesn't want to come," Bill snapped.

Peggy didn't have to be a mind-reader to see that Sookie absolutely hated Bill speaking for her. "Maybe Sookie does want to, and just thinks it's dangerous!" she snapped at Bill.

Eric was about to laugh, so Peggy elbowed him in the ribs. She sighed. "Eric, I just thought it would be fun. But if they really don't want to—"

"Bill's right, it will be dangerous. I need to be surrounded by those I trust," Eric said, looking not at Bill but at Sookie.

"I do not want Sookie put in danger for the sake of your vanity," Bill said fiercely. "Really, Eric, King of a Mardi Gras Krewe?"

"I'm truly wounded, Bill, that you don't think I am doing this even a little bit to help tourism in Louisiana. After all, it IS my bread and butter," Eric said.

"Maybe I would think that if it was a Shreveport event," Bill replied.

"Bill, I want you and Sookie to join us. You would not be thinking of disobeying me, would you?"

Bill opened his mouth to reply, but then his cell phone rang. All four of them looked started, and everyone looked at Bill, expecting him to answer. He pulled the phone out of his pocket and glanced at it.

He sighed and looked at Sookie apologetically. "I have to take this." He kissed her forehead, and at vampire speed whipped across the parking lot for privacy.

Sookie looked furious, especially since everyone inside Merlotte's was waiting for them to come in. Eric looked amused, and Peggy knew from the tilt of his head that he was trying to listen to what Bill was saying, even at this distance. Sookie lifted her head and marched into Merlotte's, and not knowing what else to do, Peggy followed, tugging Eric inside where the noise would make him less able to listen to Bill.

Sookie put on what Peggy had come to know as her work smile, and told everyone that Bill had had to take a call and would be right along. Sam, behind the bar, was looking at her worriedly.

"Should we hold off the food?" he asked.

"No, I know everyone's hungry," Sookie said. She waved at Anne Marie in the kitchen, and the gorgeous redhead waved back, a wooden spoon in her hand. Moments later all the bounty of Louisiana was being served, and Peggy got a plate while Eric was served a bottle of True Blood. He retreated to a corner table where Pam and Chow were waiting obediently. Pam looked as if she would have died of boredom if she weren't already dead.

"Where's Pearletta?" Peggy asked politely.

Chow jerked a thumb in the direction of the kitchen and Peggy saw Pearletta was helping out Anne Marie with the food.

Eric took Peggy's plate and set it on the table in front of him, then patted his lap. He loved to have Peggy sit on his lap in public. Even though it was partially to show ownership, she had to admit to herself that it was the best seat in the house, so she perched on his knee.

"Remind me why we had to come to this event?" said Pam, rolling her eyes at Eric.

"To support Sookie and Bill in their union," Eric said so seriously that Peggy almost believed him, though Pam arched an eyebrow. "And also so we can make sure that the party we give them is better than this one."

Pam chuckled. "Do you doubt my hostessing skills?"

"I'd feel better if you let me host the party and we had it at our house instead of at Fangtasia," said Peggy.

"Do YOU doubt my hostessing skills?" Pam asked Peggy.

"Actually, I know they are far superior to my own," Peggy said honestly, "I just think Sookie and Bill might be more comfortable."

Eric chuckled and rubbed her back, which she wished he wouldn't do because she found it extremely erotic. Feeling her squirm only made him continue and a bit more firmly. Peggy completely forgot about her food.

"Bill and Sookie will join us at Mardi Gras," he promised her.

"I'm not sure I want them to go by force," Peggy said with exasperation.

"Mardi Gras?" Pam perked up. Peggy stared. She didn't think she had ever seen Pam look remotely interested in anything she couldn't wear before.

"You will come too, Pam," said Eric. "Chow, you will run the bar. Pearletta can work the door."

Chow scowled, but nodded. He was much better at taking orders from Eric than Bill was… and there was Bill now, coming in the door, still glowering as much as he had been when he zipped across the parking lot. He stalked over to the table and Eric beamed at him pleasantly.

"Sookie and I will be delighted to join you for Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Eric," Bill said sourly.

"Bill, I am delighted to hear it," Eric said. Bill turned and went off to find Sookie. Peggy saw him put his arm around his fiancée and get it immediately shrugged off. But whatever Bill said next must have been the right thing, because soon Sookie was kissing him, and a chorus of "awwwws" flowed through the room.

Peggy suddenly became aware that Eric had stopped rubbing her back and was very silent. Despite their blood bond, she didn't know what he was feeling or thinking, but she could feel his eyes fixed on the couple across the bar. She turned slightly to look at his face. Her heart jarred a little as she was reminded how uncommonly beautiful he was. She wondered suddenly if he still wanted Sookie.

"Excuse me," she said, then slid off his lap and headed for the kitchen, fighting irrational feelings of jealousy.

Peggy slipped into the kitchen and watched Anne Marie professionally cooking and dishing food and yelling orders at Pearletta all at once. Pearletta was obviously very used to Anne Marie, and hollered right back, delivering the food with unnatural speed. This was the happiest Peggy had ever seen her. That made Peggy slightly sad, but she reminded herself that Pearletta could have met a lot worse fates than having to work for Eric. For instance, she could be dead. Finally dead.

"Hey, girl," Anne Marie said cheerfully. "I give you a hug, but I smell like a onion."

"Better than garlic," Peggy joked, and Anne Marie chuckled. Pearletta didn't seem to find it as amusing and swept out of the kitchen with a large tray full of rolls.

"Eric is making Bill and Sookie come to Mardi Gras," Peggy said, sighing.

Anne Marie turned and looked at her sharply. "Thought dat what you wanted, cher."

"It is, but I don't want them being forced."

"Den you shouldn'ta asked Eric for it. Don' that vampire give you everting you ask for?"

Peggy frowned. "I don't ask him for anything."

"I don' like him," Anne Marie said, but Peggy didn't take offense because Anne Marie said this every time they talked, and she also had the nerve to say it to Eric's face. "But me an' Sam, we comin' too. I got family in N'awlins."

"Do you?"

"Don' be nervous, you. Dese my good brothers. Even you like 'em. I promise dese ones not kidnap you."

"Or try to kill Eric?"

"Well…" Anne Marie paused thoughtfully.

"Anne Marie!"

The Cajun girl laughed. "Okay, I promise I tell dem not to kill you honeybun."

"Thank you," Peggy said with some relief, "I appreciate that."

" I'm jes bout done wid de food," Anne Marie said with satisfaction. She put down her spoon and took off her apron. "Now you go on out dere and enjoy dis party. It gone be more fun dan de one at Fangtasia, trust me."

"On that, I fear you may be right," Peggy said, and she strolled back to her table. Her stomach rumbled and she realized that she hadn't eaten her food. On the plus side, it was unlikely that Eric, Pam or Chow had helped themselves to it.

As she went to rejoin the vampires, Peggy saw that Sookie and Bill had sat down at their table, and that both of them were looking much happier. Sookie was talking animatedly, and Bill looked pleased as punch, which meant the party was going well. Eric seemed to be paying only half his attention to whatever Sookie was yammering about, and while Peggy was only half way across the room, he looked up at her.

The rapt expression on his face and the pulse she felt centered around him, thrumming through her as strongly as if he were touching her, made her wonder how she could have doubted him in the least. The look he gave her now was filled with intensity, wonder, and almost frightening desire. He smiled, wicked through and through.

MINE.

He didn't say it out loud, but he didn't have to. He held out a hand and she took it. She thought he was going to pull her onto his lap, but instead he stood up.

"If you all will excuse us," he told the table politely, his eyes never leaving her. "Margaret and I are going to dance."

Peggy hadn't even registered that there was a live band until that moment. They were playing a long, slow, country tune, and Eric drew her to the dance floor and into his arms. Behind them, she saw Sam and Anne Marie snuggling together to sway to the music. Bill and Sookie and a few other couples made it out there as well. Peggy looked up at Eric and his blue eyes locked with hers.

She had the feeling then, that he really would do anything for her.

Anything was a big, frightening word.


	4. Chapter 4

"I hate to admit it," Sam said to Anne Marie as they stood at Fangtasia's bar waiting for their drinks, "But Eric certainly knows how to throw a good party. And the food is fantastic!"

He might never have admitted this if Sookie and Bill hadn't looked so pleased. In fact, Sam was reasonably sure that he had never seen Bill looking anything remotely like what he would have described as "pleased" before. The vampire bar had been decorated in red and white lacy banners that reminded Sam of slightly sinister Valentine's Day decorations, but they softened the normally industrial look of the place. Apparently there was going to be a band later, but at the moment a DJ was playing soft, atmospheric music. Many of the vampires in attendance had human companions with them, and everyone was dressed to the nines. Eric seemed to have found every happy vampire/human couple in Louisiana, and Sam was sharply reminded that Eric himself was in such a relationship. It still seemed odd to him, and he still worried about Peggy, but mostly Sam kept that to himself.

Why should he worry? Peggy was a good friend of both his and Anne Marie's, but she and Eric had also been living together for over six months now. Eric had stayed on in Bon Temps and commuted to Shreveport for his work at Fangtasia. Peggy had never come to harm in his care. She was happy, as far as Sam knew.

Tonight Peggy looked radiant. Sam knew that she, Pam and Pearletta had made all the arrangements for the party. The three of them were all dressed in red to match the decorations, but with varying degrees of plunging necklines, revealing cleavage, sequins, and feathers. Pam looked like a Vegas showgirl, but Peggy looked much more demure… plunging neckline aside. Eric was wearing a tuxedo, his long hair pulled back into a ponytail, and looked like James Bond, if James Bond had been a blond Viking.

Sookie was wearing a white dress covered with tiny pink flowers with bright green stems, and Bill wore a suit that looked like an only slightly more modern version of what gentlemen had worn around the time of the Civil War. Sam felt his own sadly dated old blue suit and necktie with little alligators on it (worn to amuse Anne Marie) was a bit out of place, but he also knew that vampires didn't expect much of shifters, and he didn't really give a damn what most of the people here thought, anyway. He did decide that maybe he would invest in a new one before their trip to New Orleans and the fancy restaurant that Anne Marie was taking him to.

She had surprised him. When he had picked her up, she had stepped out of the trailer where she lived with her gran-mawmaw, brothers, and, he suspected, a couple of cousins, in a gorgeous, green sequined gown that glittered like a gator sunning himself on a riverbank and high heels that made them almost exactly the same height. She had indeed liked his tie and didn't comment on the amount of time Sam spent trying and failing not to stare at her dramatically and strategically sequined top. Even Pam had complimented her on it, and Sam suspected that was the only nice thing he had ever heard Eric's second in command say to anyone.

Anne Marie grinned at Sam. "You know why de food so good? Pearletta done had it catered from Gator Bayou."

Sam laughed in surprise. Gator Bayou was the restaurant that Anne Marie's family owned, and where the two of her brothers he didn't particularly care for worked. He might have liked them better if they hadn't, in an attempt to kill Eric Northman, kidnapped Peggy and Sookie and caused all of them a good deal of trouble. Because of them, Pearletta had nearly died…no, she HAD died and was now a vampire.

"That does explain it," Sam said. "'Course, your etouffée is better than this."

"Oh, Sam." She hugged him around the waist. "You so good to me."

Besides the catered food, the bar also provided a blood fountain for the vampires present, into which they could tip champagne glasses to fill on their whim.

"You know any of dese vampires?"

Sam shrugged. "Not many of them."

"At least de party we gave 'em, we invite dere friends," Anne Marie muttered. She was determined not to be impressed, Sam guessed.

"We can leave early," he promised.

"Nah, I don' wanta insult Sookie. She sure seem to be havin' a good time," Anne Marie said grudgingly. "And de drinks is strong!"

Chow passed them their rum and cokes, and sipping his, Sam knew she was right. Neither of them were big drinkers, and it wasn't wise to get plastered in a room full of vampires, so he knew this second one had better be his last one if he wanted to drive them home safely.

"I miss alcohol," sighed a young vampire who stepped up to the bar to get a True Blood, looking sideways at them while Chow microwaved an O negative for him. "Fountain's running a little cool for my taste," he explained.

"You can't drink none at all, I guess," Anne Marie commented politely. The vampire shook his head.

"Well, I could drink it, but it wouldn't have any effect. The closest we can get is to drink from an intoxicated donor. However, the effect is so diluted that it's barely worth the effort to catch a buzz," he sighed.

Sam nodded sympathetically as the vampire took his bottle and moved off, but he also thought that he was damned glad vampires couldn't get drunk. The havoc a drunk vampire might wreak was not something to be considered lightly. He sure as hell wouldn't want to have to try to throw one out of Merlotte's.

Chow stalked off from the bar to tell Eric that the blood fountain was running too cool, and Sam watched Eric order Pam over to fix it. Pam glared, but did as she was told. Idly Sam watched her examine the wires in the back, twist something, and have blood explode in a gush into her face.

Anne Marie giggled, but clapped a hand over her mouth. "Not a good idea to be laughin' at vampires," she whispered to Sam.

"Maybe I should offer to help," said Sam.

"What you know about blood fountains?"

"We had a chocolate fountain at the Easter buffet at Merlotte's once…did the same thing."

"Can' say I don' like de thought of you covered in chocolate," Anne Marie grinned. "G'wan, you. See if you can help dat poor girl."

As Sam and Anne Marie neared the fountain, Eric was handing Pam a towel, an amused glint in his blue eyes. Chow was laughing hysterically, back at the bar. Eric beckoned him over to clean up the blood that had spilled onto the floor.

"I have to go change out of my dress," Pam hissed icily. "My brand new, very expensive dress. Do you know how hard it is to get blood out of feathers?"

"They are already red," Eric remarked, clearly unmoved.

"But, Pam," Peggy cried, "What about the show?"

"I am not doing the show covered in blood," Pam said. "You and Pearletta will have to do it alone."

"You and Pearletta are doin' a show?" Anne Marie asked. Sam half-listened as he slipped around behind the blood fountain to see if he could adjust the temperature without another eruption. It took him about three seconds to fix it.

"It was a surprise for Sookie," said Peggy with obvious disappointment. "You know how she loves Abba."

"Pam was gone sing Abba?" Anne Marie said, sounding surprised.

"Eric insisted," Pam said, still trying to wipe blood off of her face and hair.

"So we have no band if I let you leave," Eric said thoughtfully. Pam glared at his furiously. She opened her mouth and Sam winced, wondering if there was anything the angry vampire woman could possibly say that wouldn't piss off Eric, when Anne Marie interrupted.

"I do it," said Anne Marie. "An' Pam can go change."

"Thank you," Pam said shortly. She shoved the bloody towel back at Eric, then stomped out of the bar.

"Are you sure—"

"Don' you worry none, Peggy," Anne Marie said. "Me an' Pearletta an'—well, someone else, done Abba loads. We be fine."

And they were.

Sam wondered if anyone in all of Louisiana outside of the people currently in Fangtasia had ever seen a human, a shifter, and a vampire do a performance of Abba songs before. He wondered if anyone would dare mention watching Eric Northman dancing in the crowd, and singing along. Peggy seemed to be singing to him and him alone…and well, she probably was.

"Gimme, gimme, gimme a man after midnight…"

Was this really happening, or was Sam's drink stronger than he had originally thought? And then Anne Marie was singing to him.

"Don't go wasting your emotion… lay all your love on me…"

Well. Not a problem there, Sam thought.

He also thought that Fangtasia's party for Bill and Sookie might have surpassed the one given at Merlotte's. Surprisingly, Sam was having too much fun to care.


	5. Chapter 5

Eric frowned as the mini-van pulled into the driveway. Pam parked it and got out, the expression on her face so dangerous that neither Peggy, Bill or Sookie dared say a word. Eric, however, was another story.

"Pam," he said dangerously, "What is this?"

"This, Eric, is a van," Pam drawled with annoyance.

"I believe I asked you to procure a limousine, and a driver."

"Yes, Eric, you did," Pam huffed, putting her hands on her hips. She was wearing a lovely pale pink knit outfit that Peggy couldn't help admiring even while the two of them squared off.

"Why don't I see a limousine? Why don't I see a driver? WHY do I see a van?" Eric demanded.

"I told you two weeks ago when you assigned me this errand that no limousines were available," Pam hissed.

"What about the driver?"

"Why don't you have Bill be the driver?"

"I would be happy to be the driver," Bill said calmly, but Eric ignored him.

"I am not amused, Pam."

"Neither am I, Eric," Pam replied, "But I suggest you make the best of it. If we don't leave soon, we won't get to New Orleans before dawn."

Eric's big hands clenched into fists and he closed his eyes. Somehow Peggy knew that he was counting silently. She didn't care if they went in a limousine or a van, and she somehow thought that the van might be more convenient for their luggage. Eric opened his eyes. "Fine," he grumbled.

Peggy sighed with relief and opened up the back of the van so they could load in the luggage. Pam came around to help her without a word.

"Allow me, ladies," said Bill, moving to lift the suitcases into the back.

"Thank you," Peggy said with relief. Bill indicated silently that she should go talk to Eric, who was standing alone in front of the large vehicle while everyone else tried to stay as far from him as they could get.

Taking a deep breath, Peggy went around to Eric, who was staring blankly into space. He was wearing a dark blue casual suit with a white shirt that was open at the collar, and no tie. His golden hair was loose around his face. His hands were still in fists. Peggy caught one of them in her fingers and stroked gently until his grip relaxed. He looked down at her. She was reminded again of how dangerous he was, of how precarious her position was.

She knew that he loved her, but she also knew that her life was always, always at risk when she was with him.

She wasn't afraid. She didn't care.

She lifted her chin and kissed the corner of his mouth. Eric put his arms around her and drew her against his big body.

"I wanted this to be perfect," he said very softly.

"It will be. You'll see," she whispered back.

Eric stroked her hair, then bent and kissed her full on the mouth. "This is very important."

"Is it? I thought you only wanted to go because I asked you," she said.

"I would have gone anyway," Eric said stubbornly.

She let go of him, annoyed. If he wanted to pretend that her feelings didn't matter, then let him. "Of course you would have."

Before they could get into it, her cell phone rang. Giving Eric a dark look, she answered it.

"Cher? Dis Anne Marie," came a cheerful but worried voice on the line. "Listen, dawlin', me an' Sam, we got a problem, us."

"What is it?"

"You know we was goin' to drive separate, but my car, she plumb broke down in Merlotte's parkin' lot."

"What about Sam's truck?"

"Sam done loan his truck to Terry."

"What happened to Terry's truck?"

"In de shop from when he hit dat deer. Any chance you might could squeeze us in you fancy limousine?"

"The bad news is, we don't have a limo. The good news is…should be plenty of room. Let me just check with Eric."

Peggy looked at Eric who was just standing there shaking his head. From the back of the van, she thought she heard Pam chuckle.

"Eric would be delighted for you to ride with us," Peggy said firmly.

Anne Marie laughed. "He say dat?"

"His exact words. We'll be there in ten minutes." She hung up the cell phone and folded her arms over her chest. She tried to glare at Eric, but caught a glint of amusement in his eyes.

"I hope the shifters don't have much luggage," Pam groused, coming around to where they were standing. "Mine barely fit."

"Sam and Anne Marie are riding with us?" asked Sookie as she and Bill came around as well.

"Car trouble," Peggy said briefly.

"Do vampires always eavesdrop?" Sookie asked Bill in amazement.

"It's hard not to overhear," Bill said politely. "I'm certain Pam was not eavesdropping on purpose."

"As if I care what shifters have to say," Pam drawled, going back to her naturally bored expression. Then she stuck her hand through the open window of the van and pulled out a chauffeur's cap. She plopped it on Bill's head, to his dismay. "Let's go."

Eric grinned widely, and Peggy knew his mood was changing. He was regaining the spirit of adventure that made him fun to be with. Her own heart lightened and she was reminded of how their moods were tied together through their blood bond. And yet, she knew it was more than that.

"That is CUTE," Sookie said, straightening the cap over Bill's dark hair, only to have it snatched off of his head by Eric.

"Does it look cute on me?" he asked Sookie, smirking a little as he carefully settled it over his own hair. "I am going to drive."

"It looks much better on you than it does on me," said Bill with relief, opening the door and helping Sookie into the middle row of seats. He offered his hand to Pam as well, but she ignored it and climbed in next to Sookie, leaving Bill to sit in the row behind them.

"You navigate," said Eric to Peggy, handing her the map.

Peggy snatched it out of his hand and walked around the van, but before she could open the door, Eric appeared behind her. He turned her and brought his mouth down on hers before she could react.

"I do not like it when you are angry with me, Margaret," he murmured.

"Then stop acting like a jackass," Peggy said calmly, but he had stolen her breath and heated up her insides so there was no fire in it. Eric grinned at her.

"You love me just the way I am," he gloated.

"Not always," she said firmly, turning away from him. He opened the door for her and handed her into the van, then went around to get into the driver's seat. She watched him, secretly admitting that he did look cute in the chauffeur's cap.

He turned to look at her and adjusted the cap in a slightly vain manner. He so often knew exactly what she was thinking. He was almost worse than Sookie.

"He is way worse than me," Sookie said from behind her.

Eric roared with laughter and the van squealed out of the driveway, heading for Merlotte's to pick up Sam and Anne Marie.


	6. Chapter 6

Thursday night, six nights until Mardi Gras. Sam Merlotte found it hard to believe he was going on a two week vacation to New Orleans. He worried that in Lafayette's care the bar might not be standing when he got back, or might have been transformed into Bon Temps' first gay disco. However, the look of excitement shining in Anne Marie's eyes made even that prospect well worth it. It was even worth riding down to New Orleans in a van full of vampires.

Sam and Anne Marie were scrunched into the last row of the van with Bill, who was probably the most amiable of the vampires on board. Sam was sharply reminded of the…dreams… he used to have about Bill before the connection that had been forged between them had worn off. Sam had had to drink Bill's blood once, in order to save all of Bon Temps and even as a shifter, it had affected him. He had never told anyone about the dreams, and normally he was quite comfortable with Bill, but sitting pressed this close to him for so long had become an embarrassing reminder.

Anne Marie glanced at Sam with an arched eyebrow. "Sumptin' wrong, cher?"

"No, not at all," Sam replied, sounding so falsely cheerful that even Bill turned to look at him. "So… did you set a wedding date yet?" he asked Bill to take the attention off of himself.

"I'm leaving that up to Sookie," Bill said in a rolling Southern drawl. He smiled fondly at his fiancée, who turned to smile at him when she heard her name.

"I was thinking maybe in the fall," Sookie said. "The weather's cooler then."

"Halloween?" asked Bill hopefully. Sam knew that was one of the few holidays that vampires celebrated.

"Maybe," Sookie said thoughtfully.

"We need to discuss the itinerary," Eric said loudly from the driver's seat. Sam wondered again why he was wearing that stupid hat, but he didn't say it out loud. He also speculated that Eric might be changing the topic on purpose. Was he jealous of Bill? Surely not, since he had Peggy…

Was Sam himself jealous? He had cared for Sookie a very long time, even thought he loved her… until he had come to know Anne Marie. What he felt for her was stronger than any emotion that any other woman had ever evoked in him, including the winsome Sookie Stackhouse. Impulsively Sam reached out and took Anne Marie's hand. Sookie beamed approval at him, then turned around to listen to Eric.

Pam reached into her large fuchsia suede purse and pulled out a thick typed document. "I have it right here," she replied.

"Very good," said Eric.

Pam rolled her eyes. "Mmmhmm."

"Hotel reservations," Eric said grandly.

"Two rooms at the Prince Conti hotel on Conti Street in the French Quarter," Pam said, sounding bored. Now that Sam thought about it, she almost always sounded bored. "One with windows, one without."

"Two rooms?" Eric said. Sam could hear the frown in his voice.

"I thought we were getting four rooms," Peggy added in a much kinder tone.

"It is Mardi Gras in New Orleans," Pam said with annoyance. "We were lucky to get two rooms. Besides, I thought that Eric and Bill might have other arrangements."

"What other arrangements?" asked Peggy and Sookie at once.

"We're staying with your brothers, right?" Sam asked Anne Marie.

She shook her head sadly. "Nope, we crammin' in de hotel with dem. My brothers don' have de room, dem."

Sam felt a twinge of dismay in his gut. "Great."

"The room with the windows is for you," Bill explained kindly. "Though if Sookie and Peggy intend to go out during the day, they may have to use it as well."

"Bill and I may be required to spend our days with Sophie-Anne's entourage," Eric said, not sounding any more pleased about it than Bill looked.

Sam saw the blond vampire reach over and pat Peggy's knee. She nodded sympathetically. Sam knew she understood vampire politics, that she had lived in the vampire world long before she came to Bon Temps with Eric. He didn't know all of her history, just the short version, but he knew that she was important to powerful vamps.

"Why didn't you tell me that?" Sookie hissed at Bill.

Bill looked uncomfortable. "Well—"

"Yes, Bill. Why didn't you tell her? You knew this weeks ago," Eric said wickedly from the front seat.

"Thank you, Eric," Bill growled. "Sookie, I'm sorry. I was hoping… I am STILL hoping that Sophie-Anne will only require a very little of our attendance. In fact, I would prefer that you don't even meet her."

"And why is that, Bill?" Sookie asked.

"She would like you," Bill replied grimly.

"Can we get on with the itinerary?" Pam interrupted, to Sam's relief.

"Certainly," Eric said. "Tomorrow night?"

"Early evening Mardi Gras parades, if anyone wishes to attend, followed by 10 p.m. dining reservations at Dickie Brennan's Steakhouse," Pam said, shuddering with obvious distaste.

"My favorite," Peggy beamed.

"Is it expensive?" Sookie worried.

"Eric's paying," Bill said bluntly.

"And Sam and Anne Marie, you're coming too," Peggy said. "I insist."

"We can pay our own way," Sam said stubbornly, but his stomach growled at the thought of a steak. Anne Marie chuckled.

"Are we really arguing about the bill now?" Pam asked.

"After dinner," Eric prompted.

"Tour of Bourbon Street, with a special midnight show at Bloody Mary's."

"Bloody Mary's?" Peggy asked with surprise.

"What's Bloody Mary's?" Sookie asked.

"It's—" Peggy started.

"It's a surprise," said Eric, giving her a look. "I mean it, Margaret."

"All right," Peggy agreed, grinning. "I promise it's fun."

"Then after that Eric has a 3 a.m. meeting with the Krewe of Ancients," Pam continued.

Leave it to vampires to have a 3 a.m. meeting, Sam thought. At least he and Anne Marie would be in bed by then. He grinned, then realized they were probably going to be sharing the room and would have no privacy.

Two weeks with no lovemaking? No, Anne Marie would never be able to go that long, Sam thought, smirking to himself. They'd find a way. Pam continued droning on with the itinerary, but now Sam had much more pleasant thoughts to distract him. He leaned back in the seat, snuggled closer to Anne Marie, and allowed himself to remember just earlier that afternoon...

"So in summary," Pam said at last, "Friday—meeting. Saturday—queen. Sunday—costume fitting. Monday—parade. Tuesday—ball. After that we will have to see what Sophie-Anne requires of us."

"She should permit us to leave by the following week," Eric added.

"We can hope," said Bill. Sam got the impression that Bill was even more uncomfortable about spending time with the queen than Eric was.

And then Sam knew Bill was hiding something.

He had no idea what.

He knew Bill would never tell him.

Sam could only hope and pray that whatever it was would not hurt Sookie. He looked at Bill sharply, and Bill looked away. Glancing forward, Sam saw Eric's eyes reflected in the rearview mirror of the van. So he suspected Bill as well. Interesting.

"I have managed to acquire invitations to the ball for you and Miss Boudreaux as well," Eric said to Sam without turning around.

"You…what?" Sam couldn't have been more surprised if Eric had announced he could turn into a bat… something was amused to know that he could do and that the Viking couldn't.

"Margaret wishes her friends to be with us," Eric said.

Peggy twisted around in her seat. "You'll come, won't you, Sam? Anne Marie?"

Sam was surprised to see Anne Marie grinning. "Course we will! Mardi Gras ball ain' to be missed, even if it is a all vampire krewe."

"Wait til you see Peggy's dress," Sookie squealed.

"Wait til you see Pam's dress!" Peggy squealed back. Pam rolled her eyes, but she did look slightly smug.

"I only hope there are no feathers," Eric said.

"Oh no," said Pam with satisfaction. "This time, Eric, you will be the one wearing feathers."

And that was something Sam just didn't want to think about at all.


	7. Chapter 7

It was very late when they arrived in New Orleans, but Peggy knew this hadn't been a problem even before vampires had come out of the coffin a few years ago. She and Godric had come here many times, pretending to be a normal human couple. She had never minded the deception, the games the vampires played. It had been fun, in a way. And she had always felt one of them. With Godric, she had never been treated as a plaything. She realized that this was because Godric had never treated her as a plaything. He had commanded respect from the other vampires they had known here.

"Come on," said Eric, once all the luggage had been stowed in their rooms. "Let's go for a walk."

Nodding to the rest of their friends, Peggy slipped her hand into his and let Eric lead her out into the streets of the French Quarter. He paused outside the door of the hotel, looking up and down Conti Street curiously and Peggy took a deep breath, inhaling the scents, good and bad, and the ambience of this place.

"You're happy," said Eric, smiling slightly.

Peggy nodded. "I love it here. I always wanted to live here."

Eric had apparently settled on a direction as he began leading her down the street in the direction of the river. Peggy didn't care where they were going and wasn't even sure if Eric knew; but it didn't matter.

"And…" he prompted her to go on.

"Godric didn't think the queen would let him. He was older than her. More powerful. She would never believe he simply wanted to settle peacefully."

"Ah." Sometimes it was hard for Eric to talk about his maker.

"We stayed for two years once," she remembered. "But he had to keep going back to Dallas, and… it was just easier to stay there. They wanted him as the sheriff."

"He was a good sheriff," Eric said softly.

She nodded. "I suppose. It was strange. He didn't want me to know the Dallas vampires… but here, we had many acquaintances."

Eric frowned. "That seems odd."

Peggy nodded, smiling at the memory of her old lover. "He had his reasons. I never questioned him. He always knew what was best."

"And yet you question me all the time," Eric said, smirking.

Peggy laughed. "Here, let's turn here." They were at the corner of Chartres Street. Eric inclined his head and let her take the lead. At this end of the street there were mostly antique shops and restaurants which had already closed for the night. Very few folk were still out and despite her long exposure and general ability to tell, any of them might or might not have been vampires.

It didn't matter. She was safe with Eric.

"I stay away from here," Eric said softly, "As much as I can."

"Because of Sophie-Anne?"

Eric smiled. "Like you said, she does not like competition… and I serve her well in the northern part of the state. I would not like to have her for an enemy."

"I only met her a few times," Peggy said thoughtfully, remembering.

"And what did you think?"

"That she was beautiful… and dangerous." She stopped and looked up at Eric. "Rather like you."

"Would you have preferred that Godric left you to her?" Eric asked, his face expressionless. "Then you could have lived here."

Peggy was shaken by the question, not quite knowing what to make of it. "He asked for her permission to make me a vampire," she blurted out suddenly.

Now Eric looked truly surprised. "He did?"

Peggy nodded. "She said no, not in her territory."

"Do you want to be a vampire, Margaret?"

"I did at the time. I was younger, closer to the age that he… he looked." Now she was closer to what she guessed Eric's mortal age had been when he died.

"Why didn't he make you a vampire in Dallas, then?" Eric asked.

She felt miserable, suddenly. Not answering, she let go of Eric's hand and kept walking up Chartres. He followed. She knew he would follow. It wasn't fair to treat him this way, but she was suddenly overwhelmed with emotion. She knew he could feel it and that it confused him. She knew he was annoyed at having to follow her, to wonder. Peggy began to run, almost blindly… except she knew where she was going.

A few blocks up she stopped. Jackson Square. She stood in front of St. Louis Cathedral, staring up at the huge white edifice. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she wept for her lost one. Eric was close, standing in a shadow, watching her, watching the night around her, and she knew there were other beings out there watching as well. She didn't, couldn't care. Peggy dropped to her knees, letting sobs wrack her body.

She was in Eric's arms before she knew she was. He cradled her face against his shoulder and let her tears wet his collar. Eric's cold fingers stroked through her long hair, rubbed her back soothingly.

"I miss him, too."

Peggy lifted her head and looked into his blue eyes. "Forgive me. I'm so selfish."

"What makes you say that?"

"You knew him so much longer."

"That does not make my grief at losing him any stronger than yours," Eric said.

"This was… New Orleans was a special place for us," she said, but that wasn't enough. She couldn't tell him how important it was, or what it had been like for her and Godric here.

"It will be a special place for us, too," he murmured, his voice an infinitely soft promise. "He will never be forgotten between us, Margaret. We are his blood. We are his children."

"But he didn't—He couldn't! She wouldn't let him."

"The blood bond you shared is still there," Eric said. "I taste him in you, just as I know you taste him in me. He lives on in us."

There was a hint of desperation in his voice, and she wondered if Eric was trying to convince her, or himself. She nodded, not sure if she really agreed or not, just wanting so much to feel better, to feel at peace.

"Eric," she whispered, "Is he the only thing that holds us together?"

He let go of her slightly, and she immediately regretted her words. He looked into her eyes, and she didn't know what he was trying to find there. "Don't beg, Margaret," he said sharply, and she felt her cheeks flame with embarrassment. She cast her eyes downward.

Words of love and comfort, those were not things to demand from Eric Northman.

Those were things Godric had given often and freely.

Another throb of pain inside, and she would have turned to walk away again, but he was holding on to her, making her well aware that she was at his mercy in that regard. He owned her. Godric had owned her before him, but it had never felt that way. Never. The big Viking's pride was not something to be trifled with. He let her go slowly, but he took her hand in his, and again she was aware of how cold his fingers were.

"Show me," he said simply.

Peggy nodded. She lifted her head, not looking at him as they walked through the square hand in hand. She turned on the corner of St. Ann, took him down one block, turned again onto Royal. Another block down, and there it was. The building they had lived in. She looked up at the brick building, the two floors of balconies, the hanging plants, everything untouched by the hand of time.

Everything but her, untouched.

She was different. She was irrevocably changed.

"Margaret," Eric said softly.

"Hm?"

"Someone is following us."


	8. Chapter 8

"Do you want to go out?" Sam asked Anne Marie.

"At dis hour?" she sounded amused.

"After being cooped up in the van for so long, I need to stretch my legs," Sam said. Anne Marie nodded.

"Aw right. You wan' run?"

He knew she was asking, did he want to change. They could run, dog and cat, through the streets and it would feel so good. Damn it, he did want to, but he shook his head.

"We'd have to come back into the hotel naked," he murmured. Anne Marie shrugged, as if the thought of that didn't bother her. That made Sam grin. It was New Orleans, after all. Still, not worth the risk.

"Den less go git beignets. Café du Monde be open twenny-four hour. I know the way."

"Do you?" he grinned.

"Take a deep breath."

Sam lifted his head as they stepped out onto Conti Street. He inhaled sharply, and had to anchor himself as the smell of the city nearly overwhelmed him. It was so dirty, so different from the fresh country smell of Bon Temps. Yet within the foul stench of humanity were delicious threads of cooking, flowers… and yes, deep fried, powdered sugared French donuts…beignets.

Sam's stomach rumbled. They'd had some fast food on the way, because Sookie had insisted on stopping to eat, much to Eric's annoyance, but that had been hours ago. Beignets were in no way healthy, but they sure would taste good. He slipped an arm around Anne Marie, suddenly feeling very glad and very satisfied to be here.

New Orleans was an adventure. It had been too long since Sam had had an adventure.

Anne Marie knew the way, but Sam could have found Café du Monde just by following his nose. After traveling down a few dodgy alleys (Sam suspected that most of the French Quarter was made up of dodgy alleys) and streets that jammed tourist shops, abandoned buildings, restaurants, bars, and mysterious doors that led to secret courtyards and apartments all together into historic, generally crumbling but occasionally breathtakingly restored buildings, they emerged onto the wide thoroughfare known as Decatur.

The river was just beyond, and Sam could hear the sound of water traffic even at this late hour. He had an urge to go down to the river's edge, to stare into the muddy brown of the Mississippi… but that urge would have to wait until after they ate something.

The half moon played hide and seek with pale clouds, and there weren't nearly as many stars as over Bon Temps, but something about this city, dangerous as it was, felt comfortable to Sam. This was a place where the weird, the strange, and the supernatural were embraced. If he had ever been inclined to call a city home, he thought suddenly, this wouldn't have been a bad one – even if it was overrun with vampires. They passed several on the street, but though Sam was on the alert, the dead paid them no mind. He was glad enough of that.

They stopped in front of a park about the size of a city block, cordoned off with an ancient iron fence. In the center was a large statue of a man on a horse, tipping his hat towards one of the buildings. Behind the park loomed a huge, white church.

"Andrew Jackson," Anne Marie confirmed as they stared through the gate at the statue. "Dis be Jackson Square. Dem dere de Pontalba buildings…" She indicated the two blocks of shops and galleries on either side of the square. "…Baroness Pontalba, she had dem built in de 1840s. An you see Andrew Jackson be tippin' his hat to her."

Sam chuckled. "And the church…"

"Dat be St. Louis Cathedral. Now turn dis way and look over dere."

Sam turned to see the green striped roof of an open air café. He grinned widely. "I know what that is."

A few minutes later they had tiny, sticky cups of coffee and a plate of piping hot beignets laden with powdered sugar. It dusted itself finely over their fingers and mouths. Sam leaned over and licked a smudge of sugar from Anne Marie's nose and she smiled at him. Her green eyes sparkled in the dim light of the café, and Sam hoped what he was seeing in her eyes was that same, deep, yearning emotion that she created in him.

"Love you," he said after a minute.

"I loves you, too, Sam Merlotte," she replied, chuckling. Then she lifted up the plate, empty of beignets but still thick with sugar, took a deep breath, and blew. A cloud of powdered sugar instantly rose up and covered Sam. He sat there in shock for a moment, then shook his head and growled playfully at her.

"You're going to pay for that, Miss Anne Marie," he teased.

"Oh, yeah?"

"Mmmhmm."

Anne Marie, laughing, leapt to her feet and dashed out of the café. Sam followed her, his heart light, ignoring the glares of the servers who would have to clean up after their games.

She dashed down Decatur in the opposite direction from which they had come and crossed the street. Sam followed, trying not to stumble over the sidewalks which were cracked and rose and fell in alternate waves of cement and brick. The February night was cool, but Sam was warm, hot-natured and hot from the chicory café au lait and beignets. How easy it would have been to fly out of his clothes and chase her in his collie form. How delicious it would have been to feel his paws scampering over the filthy sidewalks.

She was just ahead of him, half a block maybe, looking back, laughing. Her laughter rang in his ears, sweeter than any sound Sam knew. She flew around he corner and he dashed after her. On the next block there was a biker bar with a surprising number of motorcycles parked in front of it, considering the lack of parking in the Quarter – Sam knew the amount Eric had had to pay to stable the mini-van had been high enough to make him sigh in annoyance. Apparently the Vampire Businessmen's Association of Louisiana wasn't covering the expenses.

There was no sign of Anne Marie.

Sam skidded to a halt, looking around curiously. He could feel his sense of fun and adventure, the spontaneous playfulness of the moment leeching out of him, the warmth cooling abruptly into worry. He walked down the street slowly, heading towards the bar which was the only open establishment on the block. The rest of the buildings were quiet and shuttered. It was four o'clock in the morning.

A clatter from an alley opposite the bar drew Sam's attention. He grinned again. Ah, she was hiding there, trying to get his attention. He saw a flash of fur and knew she must have changed into her cat form. Sam crossed the street and peered down the alley. It was dark, ominous and reeked of piss, onions, rotten shellfish, spilled alcohol. He could see some trashcans at the back and thought he saw one of them move.

"Anne Marie?"

There was no sign of her clothes. If she had changed, where had she left them? Sam slipped down the alley towards the trash cans, trying not be overwhelmed by the nasty smell. He didn't pick up her scent at all. The alley was a dead end, backed by a thick brick wall topped with an assortment of broken bits of glass set into it to prevent climbers. There was indeed a pitifully thin feline rattling one of the cans, but he knew at once that the cat was just a cat. The cat yowled at Sam, then wedged itself behind the cans.

"Right back at you, buddy," said Sam, turning to leave.

He found the mouth of the alley blocked by a tall, dark vampire.

"Hello," said Sam automatically, trying to be polite.

"Hello," said the vampire in the exact same tone. He was dressed ridiculously, in Sam's opinion, in a black top hat and tails, topped with a long opera cloak, and white gloves. He had long black hair that framed his aristocratic, handsome face and dark, wicked eyes that were gleaming with mischief.

In Sam's experience, a mischievous vampire was never a good thing. He frowned, and the vampire frowned back at him. Sam took a step backwards, and the vampire took a step backwards as well.

"What are you doing?" Sam asked and the vampire echoed his words at the same time.

He realized then that the vamp was mimicking him and he didn't know whether to be annoyed or amused. He watched the vampire roll his eyes, then begin to waltz to unheard music. The vampire twirled his cloak as Sam stared, then danced sideways up the wall of the alley. Then, still somehow balanced sideways on the wall, he tipped his top hat to Sam and held out a card, which Sam wasn't particularly inclined to take. However, there was no other way to get past this ridiculous vampire

Sam took the card, not looking at it, wise enough not to take his eyes off of the vampire. The vampire replaced his hat and jumped, somersaulting off of the wall to land on his feet in the alley behind Sam. When Sam whirled around the vampire was gone.

"Sam?"

Sam whirled again to face the mouth of the alley. Peggy and Eric stood there staring at him. Eric looked amused. Peggy looked like she had been crying and Sam immediately felt defensive of her. But he had a bigger problem.

"I lost Anne Marie," he said with chagrin.

"Anne Marie is in the Werewolf bar across the street," Eric said.

Sam was filled with relief. "Did you see that vampire?"

"What vampire?" asked Peggy.

"He gave me this," Sam said, suddenly feeling foolish. He looked down at the card in his hand. It read simply _Bloody Mary's_ in lurid red script, followed by an address in the Quarter.

Eric took the card from Sam and looked at it, and began laughing. "Maybe," he said after a long minute, wiping a red tear of mirth from his eyes, "He thought this was the type of establishment you would enjoy."


	9. Chapter 9

Peggy pressed closer to Eric as he told her that someone was following them. He squeezed her, more possessive than reassuring, but it made her fear abate. Eric turned slowly, looking for the source of the presence he felt near them, knowing someone was watching them.

And then there he was. Her heart leapt into her throat.

The vampire was not as tall as Eric, and he was dressed to the nines in what Peggy had always thought of as "vampire drag" – gothic, fancy suits and capes, things like the working vampires wore during their shifts at Fangtasia. He had dark hair and a top hat and held out his arms to her. Peggy ran to embrace him, and he chuckled fondly.

"Christopher!"

"Ah, the lovely human!" he exclaimed, drawing her up against him. It was rare for vampires to hug, or even shake hands, but Christopher had always embraced her and that was part of his charm, at least to Peggy. A glance at Eric told her that he did not appear to be the least bit charmed. In fact, his face was a storm cloud. "I thought I saw you passing by Jackson Square. But where is your Godric? And who is this delightful specimen?"

He let go of her, looking Eric up and down with frank interest. Peggy stepped back towards Eric. A lump formed in her throat. The pleasure she felt at seeing her old friend melted back into the raw grief she knew from all the reminders of Godric that infested the Crescent City.

"Godric's gone."

"Gone?" Christopher looked surprised… and thoughtful.

"Into the sun," Peggy whispered.

"My deepest condolences," said Christopher, though he didn't sound terribly sincere. "So you are free, then. Perhaps you are in need of a new protector?" Christopher asked hopefully. "You know how I've always longed to taste what lies beneath your fair skin."

"You will have to continue in your longing," Eric said, stepping closer to Peggy and putting a hand on her shoulder. "Margaret is MINE… by Godric's will."

Christopher held up his hands in surrender and stepped backwards. "I mean you no harm," he said, sounding amused. "Surely you cannot fault me for desiring such a succulent morsel."

"This is Eric Northman," said Peggy realizing that she ought to make some introductions and explanations before Eric decided to pound Christopher into a bloody pulp.

"Godric's progeny!" Christopher sounded impressed, which seemed to mollify Eric, but only a tiny bit. "How nice that you're being kept in the family, Margaret. I am quite delighted to know that you are…safe."

"Um, yes," said Peggy. Eric's grip on her shoulder was getting tight and nearly painful. "Eric, this is Christopher Santiago. An old friend."

"And were you a friend to Godric as well?" Eric asked Christopher.

Christopher grinned. "But, of course. My, my, my this is an interesting development. Eric Northman. I've certainly heard of you. I must say I was quite disappointed that they chose you over me as king of the Krewe of Ancients."

"I take it you are a member of the Vampire Businessmen's Association of Louisiana." Eric's tone had not warmed up one bit.

"Indeed. Like you, I am the proprietor of a vampire bar." With a flourish he seemingly produced a business card out of thin air, winking at Peggy as he did. He handed the card to Eric, who looked at it briefly.

"Ah, so you're the owner of Bloody Mary's," he said, arching his fair eyebrows. Christopher bowed humbly in acknowledgment. "You are hosting our group tomorrow night for the midnight show."

"Indeed, I recall the reservation," Christopher said. "If only I'd known Margaret was going to be with you, I would have felt an even more heightened sense of anticipation. I cannot wait for you to see my new establishment, darling. It is quite different from your Eric's Fangtasia. I have been very busy since last we met. Oh, but I have missed you."

He grinned at her with very sharp teeth and an invitation in his eyes. Peggy shivered. If she had been free, she might have entertained the notion. She had always been fond of him, because he was wicked, and fun, and Godric had trusted him.

"We had a good many adventures together, didn't we?" she said, remembering, even though this clearly was not a pleasant revelation to Eric. Still, she had to be honest with him. If she wasn't, he was likely to know anyway because of their bond.

"I shall never forget them," Christopher said gallantly.

"Godric often left me under Christopher's protection when he was called away from New Orleans," she explained gently to Eric.

"How delightful," said Eric, not sounding at all delighted. "You will have to tell me all about your adventures later."

"I had a little theater for a while," Christopher said, his tone somewhere between humble and mocking. "Margaret is a wonderful actress."

"I trust it was nothing like your current establishment," Eric said.

"Oh no. Then it was vampires pretending to be humans pretending to be vampires, with a human or two sprinkled in so no one would be the wiser. We could arrange daylight sightings and all that. Now that we are out of the coffin, Bloody Mary's actresses can be honest about what they are."

"Or at least about their vampire nature," Eric said sardonically.

Christopher laughed. Peggy had always adored his laugh. It was bold and wicked. It made her want to laugh as well, but the weight of Eric's jealousy was holding her down.

"Clever, clever, and handsome," Christopher said, smiling flirtatiously at Eric. "Oh, I shall make sure you have a good time tomorrow night."

Eric smiled, and suddenly Peggy wondered why he had chosen Bloody Mary's in the first place. Was he keeping something from her? The look on his face of smug, satisfaction seemed to say so.

"I don't doubt that we will," he said.

"The drinks will be on me. I insist." Christopher smiled broadly and bowed sweepingly at them. With a swirl of his cloak, he turned and disappeared into the night.

"Eric—"

"I do not trust him," Eric interrupted.

"Godric trusted him," Peggy said with exasperation. "I always trusted him. He kept me safe on many occasions."

"He must have owed Godric a debt. Something that would keep him under control. Otherwise, I have no doubt that he would have taken you for himself."

Peggy was astonished. "Eric that's ridiculous."

"Margaret, his desire for you was naked on his face. He owes nothing to me, and we are in his territory. He will take you from me if he can."

"We are in Sophie-Anne's territory, and as her sheriff you know she will respect your claim to me," Peggy said with exasperation.

"Maybe. Or maybe this Christopher Santiago is her creature. He lives and works here in her city, after all."

Peggy reached up and touched Eric's face. "I would give up my life before I belonged to anyone besides you," she said, soft and serious.

This seemed to mollify him somewhat. He bent and kissed her briefly. He took her hand and began to lead her down the street in the direction of the river. His fingers wrapped around hers very gently, tenderly, and she felt a kind of sweetness begin to steal through her.

"The Voodoo Museum is on the next block," she said. "And across the street right there's a Werewolf bar. Of course, the tourists don't know that."

"What do you know about Bloody Mary's?" Eric asked as they walked.

"Nothing, really," Peggy replied honestly. "It wasn't here the last time I was in New Orleans, though I heard the name somewhere. It's a vampire bar open to tourists."

"Of course," said Eric, grinning. "Actually, it's—"

"Sam?" Peggy paused at the mouth of the alley where Sam Merlotte stood looking confused, clutching a familiar looking card in his hand.


	10. Chapter 10

"Sam," a sweet voice with a twangy Cajun accent whispered in his ear. "Sam, time to get up."

"No," Sam mumbled.

"Yes."

"Can't be. Too damn early." Sam shoved his face into his pillow. His whole body felt exhausted. Last night had been late, and yesterday had been stressful.

Anne Marie chuckled, and the sound reverberated pleasantly through Sam's body until he realized that at least one part of him was awake. This made him smile and reach for her, until he realized she was just out of reach, and out of the bed, and he remembered that they were sharing the room with Sookie and Peggy.

Sam could hear the shower running. He took a deep breath. It was Sookie in the shower. He could smell Peggy's perfume, her warmth. She was up, dressed… how could she be? She was more of a night owl than any of the rest of them.

"You hungry."

It wasn't a question, it was a statement, and the moment Anne Marie said it, it was true. Sam felt his stomach growl and thought about last night's beignets, followed by copious amounts of beer at a Werewolf bar where they had truly been made welcome to the city. There had been some strange vampire, and Eric laughing, but then it had been fun…

"What's for breakfast?" Sam mumbled, still debating whether it was worth his while to get out of the bed.

"We have reservations at the Court of Two Sisters," Peggy said, sounding happy. Her joy lifted Sam's heart. His head, however, was still buried in the pillow.

"Jazz brunch," said Anne Marie.

"Mmmph." But Sam had to admit it sounded like fun and as Sookie came out of the bathroom in a very cute green sweater dress and a cloud of steam, he thought he might be able to pull himself together for it.

He found himself much admired as he strolled into the restaurant, thankfully just around the corner from the hotel, forty-five minutes later, with three beautiful women on his arm. The old double-door opened on a long, bright hallway and they headed down it to be escorted into a bright courtyard, rife with plants and overhung with trees. It was a slightly chilly morning, but in the sun it wasn't bad and the charm of this place meant dining al fresco with a jazz band playing in one corner.

"Isn't it lovely?" Peggy said. "I was here once or twice, when I was entertaining a human friend of Sophie-Anne's…"

"What's she like?" Sookie asked tentatively.

"She's beautiful, and dangerous," Peggy said thoughtfully. "Like they all are."

Sam got the feeling that she'd said this before. He looked at her for a long moment. "Do you know anything about Bloody Mary's?" he asked.

"It's a vampire bar. The proprietor is a friend of mine, but I've never been there," she said thoughtfully. "It should be fun, though."

"If hanging around vampires can be called fun," said Sam gravely.

"Why, Sam Merlotte, do you still think that way?" Peggy asked and immediately Sam felt ashamed, looking from her to Sookie and back.

"I doubt it's going to do me any good to argue with the two of you," he said.

"Probably not," Peggy said, laughing. "Still… well. I guess I can understand why you don't care for Eric, but Bill is perfectly lovely."

"Thank you," said Sookie, lifting her chin.

"I think Bill be hiding sumtin from you, Sook," Anne Marie said seriously. Sam saw Sookie's face grow dark in denial and he braced himself for a storm.

"Bill would never—"

"Hope'm wrong," Anne Marie said. She took Sookie's hand and squeezed it. Sookie relented immediately.

The Court of Two Sisters featured a buffet with Eggs Benedict as the specialty, and everyone helped themselves to heaping platefuls of both Louisiana and general breakfast classics. Anne Marie enjoyed the boiled crawfish even at this hour, and Sam enjoyed watching her pinch the heads and suck the tails.

This hour. A glance at Sam's watch told him it was closer to lunch than to breakfast. Mimosas were debated and though Sam was leaning on the side towards pre-noon drinking, he was outvoted. Maybe just as well… but it was New Orleans, with Mardi Gras just around the corner.

"I'd like to do some sight-seeing if that's okay," said Sookie.

"Fine by me," said Anne Marie.

"Did you have anything in mind?" Peggy asked. "I know my way around the Quarter fairly well."

"Are there any Mardi Gras parades today?" Sam asked.

"Not until this evening," said Sookie. "I looked it up in the paper. I'm not sure what I'd like to see."

"Cemetery?" Peggy asked with enough excitement to make Sam feel it might be a little macabre. "We can go see Marie Laveau's tomb."

"I seen dat," said Anne Marie. "It innerestin enough, but de vampires, dey make a big deal out dat."

Peggy laughed. "I wonder what Eric would think." She looked so dreamy, so in love that Sam almost found it hard to recall that the object of her affection was an ancient Viking vampire.

"You know what," said Sookie. "Let's do go to the cemetery. But first, let's all have a round of mimosas…"

And about an hour later, Sam found himself slightly drunk in St. Louis Cemetery #1, standing guard while Anne Marie, Peggy and Sookie drew red X's in lipstick on the Voodoo Queen's tomb so she would grant their wishes. He wondered vaguely what Anne Marie was wishing for, but the mix of champagne and orange juice made him too muddle-headed to ask.

St. Louis #1 was quite a sight to see. Unlike in Northern Louisiana, where Bon Temps was, the tombs here were above ground due to the high water table. A corpse planted in the ground would only pop back up to say hello during the next rain storm, so large and often ornate crypts were the norm. Sam wondered how many vampires were sleeping in them. Both the dead and the undead probably surrounded them. He knew from hearsay that many of the less moneyed vampires stashed themselves in available crypts.

A flash of something shiny from around the corner caught Sam's eye. He glanced back at the girls, but they were involved in their ritual. He shuffled his feet for an indecisive moment and then decided to investigate. Slipping around the corner, he stole down the row of silent tombs, nearly tripping over the broken cement of the path. His vision swam. Maybe he was more drunk than he thought.

Around another corner, and then he saw her. A very tall, big woman in…a sequin dress? Wasn't it early for that? And she was watching him, staring at him… then she smiled…laughed. Sam started towards her, but she ran around the corner with a flash of a ridiculously high heel. Sam tripped over a brick, slamming down, skinning his hands and knees as he caught himself.

"Sam? You okay, dawlin?" asked Anne Marie, suddenly by his side. She helped him to his feet, which both comforted and embarrassed him at once.

"Someone was watching us," Sam said, shaking his head.

Anne Marie dashed lightly ahead, looked around the corners. "No one here, Sam. No one but us."


	11. Chapter 11

Peggy opened the door to Eric's room with the key he had given her around sunset, expecting him to have risen already. She was slightly drunk, having been out around town for most of the day with Sookie, Anne Marie, and Sam. She was flying high, having a good time, but missing Eric desperately.

"Darling!" she cried as she opened the door, but her face fell immediately. There were two beds in the room, as well as four coffins. Bill was in one bed, and Eric and Pam were curled up in the other.

All three vampires sat bolt upright at her entrance, and had they all not recognized her at once, she would have been dead before the word finished leaving her mouth. Bill stretched and yawned once the alarm had passed, and Eric smiled at her invitingly.

"Eric!"

"Yes, my dear one?"

"What exactly are you doing?" Peggy glared at Pam, who rolled her eyes. Was it possible to wake up looking bored? If so, Pam had mastered it.

"I was sleeping, until you burst through the door… though I suppose it is time to get up anyway. I can feel that the sun is almost set."

"Why is Pam in your bed?"

"Because there are only two beds and none of us were in the mood for a coffin," Eric said, his voice suddenly pitched low and sharp. She knew he didn't want any jealous nonsense from her, but the liquor she'd had spurred her on.

"Why didn't you let Pam have her own bed? You could have shared with Bill."

"No," Eric and Bill said at once.

Bill, very wisely, rose from the bed and slipped into the bathroom with his clothes. Another moment later he left the room, undoubtedly to go find Sookie, who was passed out in the other hotel room, more unused to liquor than the rest of them.

"Calm down, Margaret," Eric said. He slipped out of the bed and went to her, but that only angered her further when she saw what he was wearing.

"You're naked!" she gasped. Pam chuckled, and Peggy glared at her.

"Ah, young love," she drawled.

"I always sleep naked," Eric said reasonably. "You know that."

"But not with Pam!"

"Well…not in a while." He laughed, which spurred Peggy to make a fist and punch him in the chest. It didn't faze him and was like socking a brick wall. He caught her hand when she drew it back and unclenched the fist, then stroked her fingers.

Pam got out of the bed and Peggy saw that she was wearing a full-length pink nightie. That made her feel marginally better, though she still glared at Pam.

"Eric is my maker," Pam said directly to Peggy. "You know this, and you know what I share with him is no longer sexual. But if it were—"

"If it were, we certainly would not have made love in front of Bill," Eric pointed out, pulling Peggy against him, mollifying her. "You have been drinking."

"Yes," she admitted.

"Those shifters are a bad influence," Eric said, but he sounded amused.

Peggy peeked past him over at Pam. "I'm sorry, Pam."

Pam shrugged. She didn't hold grudges long, in Peggy's experience. She sauntered into the bathroom which Bill had vacated. A moment later, Peggy heard the shower running.

"Why don't you apologize to me?" Eric wondered.

Peggy glared at him. "Because you're naked," she replied stubbornly.

He chuckled. "Normally, you quite enjoy me in this state." He began kissing her throat, nipping gently.

"We won't have any privacy for that on this trip," she said, gasping.

Eric growled against her flesh and lifted his head. "Pam takes long showers."

"Eric… I couldn't."

He tilted his head. She didn't think she'd ever denied him anything before. "I could take away your choice."

She gasped, and her heart began to pound in her chest. "You wouldn't!"

Eric smiled wickedly. "You are titillated by the thought, though."

She put her arms around his neck and kissed him. Damn it, but she wanted him so badly, and she could both feel and see that he felt the same way. She stroked her tongue over one of his fangs, giving him a little taste of her blood. He moaned.

"I am coming out of the bathroom now," Pam announced loudly.

"I thought you said she takes long showers."

Eric cursed softly in Swedish, which made Peggy giggle as Pam emerged in a pink track suit, with wet hair. "All right, all right. I had better find something to wear. Shall we see the parade before we go to dinner? I would like to know what a Mardi Gras parade is like. I have to know what I'm getting myself into."

He strolled over to his suitcase and rifled through it for his jeans and a black Fangtasia t-shirt with a red logo. She watched him put on his clothes, not bothering with underwear. The way his body moved drove her wild. She glanced at Pam, who was fixing her hair and didn't even glance at Eric.

"How can you be immune to that?" Peggy asked her.

"If I wasn't, you'd be over here trying to knock my fangs out," Pam drawled.

Eric chuckled. "If you were more evenly matched, I might enjoy watching that. Margaret, perhaps you and Sookie could brawl over me."

Peggy laughed. Her mood had lightened considerably. "Pam, are you coming to the parade with us?"

"I'll save that pleasure for the one Eric's riding in," Pam said.

"But you will join us for dinner," Eric said.

"What could be more fun than drinking True Blood while watching humans eat?" Pam sighed.

"See what a good sport she is?" Eric smirked as he slipped his arm around Peggy's waist and led her out of the hotel.

"I'm sorry I was jealous," she said as they strolled arm in arm towards Canal Street. "I know it's foolish of me."

"It is," Eric agreed softly. "You know there has not been anyone but you since you were left in my care."

"I suppose it is too much to hope it will last," Peggy said wistfully.

"It might," Eric said. "I have not even come close to tiring of you."

"How romantic," Peggy said sourly as they turned the corner. The crowd was growing thick as they approached the large thoroughfare where the parade would roll through.

"I could turn you, and we could be married," Eric mused. Peggy's heart nearly fell to her feet. She stopped dead in her tracks and grabbed his arms, staring into his eyes.

"What?"

"It would not be fair to marry you as a human," Eric said.

"But, it's legal now! Sookie and Bill—"

"I know it is legal, and I know Sookie and Bill intend to do it. I just do not think it is fair. We would not be balanced. Marriage should be among equals."

"You don't wish to turn me, then?"

"That's not true at all. I desire it greatly," Eric said, and such fervor showed in his eyes that she knew if he decided on this course of action, she really would have no choice. "Vampire marriages only last a hundred years."

"That would not be long enough for me," Peggy swore.

"But what if it was?" he asked softly. "What if we grew to hate each other, and were utterly bound by blood?"

"So what you're saying is… you don't want to risk what we have for something that might be better, or might eventually be worse." She felt deflated, sad…and yet hopeful at the same time.

"We have time to think on it," he said. "Meanwhile, do not worry, Margaret."

Peggy nodded as they made their way into the crowd. People seemed to naturally step aside for Eric, whether they recognized him for what he was or not. Her head was swimming from the drinks she'd had earlier and from the intensity of their conversation. Then the parade began to pass and there was no time to speak, only time to yell and cheer and put their hands up in the air to catch the beads and doubloons that rained down on them, thrown by the riders on the floats in the parade.

Eric's vampire speed combined with his height gave them an advantage over others in the crowd. He seemed to catch every string of beads in their immediate area, and soon he and Peggy were festooned with dozens of them. It was too much fun, and Peggy quickly forgot her pique. Down the street a little ways she spotted Sam and Anne Marie in the crowd. They had a great many beads as well, but Eric doubtlessly had the most.

Later tonight she would see Christopher, she remembered, and she warmed at the thought. She hoped he would not be too busy running his bar to come and chat with them. Being with him always lifted her spirits. She had missed him, she realized. She remembered his offer of protection, and a blush stained her cheeks. Even thinking about it seemed a betrayal of her feelings for Eric. Yet sometimes she wondered if her feelings were real, or if they were born of their blood bond. At least she knew her fondness for Christopher wasn't manufactured.

The parade ended and they stepped out of the crowd, caught up with Sam and Anne Marie. Eric herded them all back to the hotel to change for dinner. As they walked back to Conti Street, he caught her hand and beamed at her. His lightness of heart caught her at last and she felt her unease lifting.

How foolish she was, to think there could ever be anyone but Eric.


	12. Chapter 12

Sam Merlotte was not the type to dine out at fancy restaurants. He liked places that mirrored his own bar and grill, places that welcomed people from all walks of life, but mostly the lower ones. Places that hosted "just folks." Places to which he didn't have to wear a jacket and tie.

Even though he had bought a brand new tie for this trip, he felt relief when Eric informed him that the dress code at Dickie Brennan's Steakhouse was upscale casual. Jacket yes, but not required, tie not required. Eric himself hadn't bothered with a tie, either, though Bill had opted for a dark blue encumbrance knotted neatly at his pale throat. It matched his dark blue suit. Eric dressed in black slacks with a black blazer and a white t-shirt beneath, pushing the line of casual but pulling it off like formalwear. Sam opted for a neatly buttoned green plaid shirt and brown pants, neatly creased.

Judging from Anne Marie's approving look, he had chosen well. All four of the ladies wore dresses, but even though Peggy, Pam, and Sookie, the three blondes, all looked like a million dollars, Sam only had eyes for his sizzling hot Cajun red-head. Her black dress was emblazoned with blue and green flowers with long stems, cut low in the front and the back and classy all the way. She had accessorized with silver bangles, a way of thumbing her nose at the vampires, Sam knew.

As they all met in the lobby to go out, Eric arched an eyebrow at Anne Marie. "Lovely bracelets," he said softly.

"Why, Eric Northman, m'so glad you like dem," Anne Marie said, smirking slightly. Eric chuckled, which only made Sam nervous and defensive. Peggy looked at the bracelets and disappointment crossed her features. Sam knew it pained her that her good friend disliked Eric so much.

"Shall we go?" he asked, taking Anne Marie's arm.

"I understand that the restaurant is right down the street," said Bill, putting his arm around Sookie. She was dressed in red and looked a little bit worn out from their wild afternoon at the cemetery. She still managed to smile at Bill, but she was quiet, unusual for her, Sam thought.

Pam checked her sheaf of papers – Eric seemed to be using her as a secretary since she apparently was keeping track of everywhere they had to go. Her pink suit flattered her figure but to Sam she was cold as ice. Beautiful, but like a statue. "It's half a block away," she said.

Eric nodded. He took Peggy's hand and led the way out to the street. Peggy was glowing with happiness. Sam didn't know what Eric had said (or done) to her after the parade, but she was in a very good mood as far as he could tell. Her dress was a forest green, quite plain but the color brought out the luminous blue of her eyes.

It didn't take them five minutes to get to the steakhouse, and though Sam expected to be uncomfortable, both the ambience and warm-hearted service immediately put him at ease. The restaurant had a very manly look – dark brown leather, polished tile floors, a cigar bar in the lobby, like an old English Gentleman's club. Sookie looked suitably impressed but everyone else took it in stride.

The vampires were served True Blood within moments, and it fell to Sam to select a bottle of wine for himself and the human (and shifter) ladies. Eric looked at him with interest and Sam suspected that the vampire thought him not up to the task. Peggy clearly was, and she quivered, but this was often a task left for the gentlemen, and Sam looked over the menu, pretending he had extensive sommelier experience rather than a knowledge of beer and whiskey.

Either he was lucky or had innately good taste, because everyone who could taste it agreed that the Pinot Noir he selected was excellent. Sam thought so as well, but he still was tempted to order an Abita instead. Why he felt he needed to impress Eric was beyond him.

"Dis food quite delicious," Anne Marie said when their steaks arrived. Peggy grinned.

"I am so glad you like it. This is my favorite restaurant on earth. Eric—thank you for working it into the schedule."

Eric smiled genuinely at her, but the expression turned to a smirk when he looked around the table. Sam frowned. At least he seemed to give Peggy the best of himself, but he seemed to put on a front for everyone else.

"I find I can deny you nothing," he told her gallantly. "Besides, you had to eat, and there's time."

"I don't think I have ever had a meal like this," Sookie said. "I thought the Court of Two Sisters was good this morning…but this…this isn't like steak. It's like what cows become in Heaven."

"You got to come to where my brother Nicolas de cook," said Anne Marie. "Me an' Sam, we go dere fo' Sunday brunch."

"I would love to meet your brother," Sookie said, "But only if he's not too much like your other brothers."

"The ones that kidnapped you and Peggy, you mean?" Bill said mildly.

Anne Marie flushed. "Nicolas, he ain' nothin' like that."

"What about Simone?" Sam asked. "Will we meet him, too."

"Maybe. Nicolas say he ain' seen him too recent."

Eric's mouth quirked upward. "I have no doubt that you will see your brother when you least expect it," he said.

"What's dat supposed t'mean?" asked Anne Marie.

"Oh, look, here's the dessert menu," said Eric. "I understand that crème brulée is delicious, Margaret."

"It is, Eric," said Peggy. Her eyes beamed and Sam found her happiness infectious. He ordered the crème brulée.

Sam found that the Pinot Noir was going to his head. He counted idly on his fingers. "Do you know," he said to no one in particular, "I think I have been drunk for the last eleven hours."

Peggy giggled. "Me, too, maybe."

Sookie had only had a few sips of wine with her dinner. "I have to stop," she said, "It's giving me a headache."

"So you don't care to visit the many fine drinking establishments of Bourbon Street after dinner?" Eric asked wickedly.

"Are you trying to get them drunk, Eric?" asked Bill.

"Margaret tastes lovely when she's drunk," Eric said.

Sam frowned. He was quite sure he should object to this, but he also probably ought to keep that to himself since Eric was buying dinner.

"Well," he said, "We are on vacation."

"That's the spirit," Eric said cavalierly. Pam rolled her eyes and sipped her True Blood.

Sam drank some more wine. He let Eric pick up the tab with no objections. Then he let Eric buy a round at Pat O'Brien's, the famous New Orleans piano bar. And another round at somewhere called Tropical Isle. And some frozen drinks that came out of what looked like washing machines.

He minded less and less the wall to wall crowds on Bourbon Street. He yelled whoooooo several times when he saw young ladies flashing their chests for beads. He kissed Anne Marie in the middle of the street and groped her rear end a little. He applauded loudly when Sookie sang "Dancing Queen" at The Cat's Meow karaoke bar. He chuckled when Bill caught her when she fell off of the stage. He set Sookie on her feet and she, Anne Marie, and Peggy all toddled off en masse to the ladies' room. Eric nodded to Pam to follow them, since the three of them were all plastered.

"This can't be much fun for you guys," Sam said broadly to Eric and Bill, like they were his best buddies. He'd had enough booze that he almost imagined that they could be.

"Actually, I am more than amused," Eric said.

Bill sighed. "I just want Sookie to have a good time. This is all new for her."

"So you guys really can't get drunk?" Sam asked, swaying on his feet.

"I do not even remember what it is like," said Eric. "The flavor goes to the blood… but it is hard to achieve that state of altered consciousness that you feel right now. I'd have to kill her."

Sam grabbed Eric's arms. "You BETTER NOT kill her," he growled.

Eric removed Sam gently – that is, without breaking any of his fingers. "I wouldn't," he said.

"Do you love her?" Sam demanded belligerently.

Bill looked taken aback. "Sam!"

"What right do you have to ask me that?" Eric hissed.

"I'm her friend!" Sam snapped.

Eric was silent for a long moment and Bill put a hand on his shoulder, clearly hoping to prevent a scene.

"I do love her," Eric said.

Sam wanted to demand to know if Eric was even capable of love, but the ladies returned from the restroom just then, and Eric moved the party on to the next stop.

"Bloody Mary's," Pam announced, consulting the itinerary, "For the midnight show."

It was around the corner, just off of Bourbon on one of the side streets, and Eric steered them there. Was it Sam's imagination, or had the obnoxious Viking vampire's expression grown even more smug?

"Welcome to Bloody Mary's," said the hostess at the door. She was over six feet tall with her high heels, and dressed head to toe in magenta sequins. "I'm Lady Pickle Divine. Do you have a reservation?"

"Do I know you?" Sam demanded. And then, even as drunk as he was, he remembered. Lady Pickle Divine was the woman he had seen earlier that morning in the cemetery.

Also, Sam was fairly sure that she was not a woman at all.


	13. Chapter 13

Peggy was only mildly surprised by the hostess of Bloody Mary's. She had known Christopher Santiago a long time and had half suspected what they might find at his bar. Lady Pickle Divine was a human, and Peggy thought that with those long lashes and perfect makeup, she was more of a lady than Peggy would ever be… even though she was a man.

"Do I know you?" Sam demanded, frowning drunkenly at the drag queen.

"I don't think so, honey, but you might by the end of the night," she teased, winking at him.

"The reservation is under—" Eric began, but Sam interrupted.

"No, I saw you in the cemetery today!"

"I'm not THAT old," said Lady Pickle Divine.

"You were following us," Sam said harshly. "You—"

"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave," the drag queen drew herself up on her high heels to her full height, and she had a few inches on Sam.

"Not until you tell me—"

"SECURITY!" hollered Lady Pickle Divine. Before she finished saying the word, Christopher appeared in the doorway to the club, dressed as elegantly as he had been when they had met him the night before. He was frowning dangerously, but when he saw their party, he smiled wickedly in welcome.

"These are my honored guests," he told the hostess sharply, and immediately she looked horrified.

"Why, I'm so sorry, Master Santiago," she gasped.

He ignored her, coming forward to kiss Peggy on both cheeks. He offered Pam, Eric and Bill a sweeping bow, winked at Sookie, then arched his eyebrows as he saw Sam and Anne Marie.

"Woof," he said to Sam, then turned and held his arms out to Anne Marie. "Well, well, isn't this a treat? Miss Boudreaux, it has been far too long."

"You know Christopher?" Peggy blurted, shocked. Anne Marie was not a friend to vampires, not at all. Even Eric looked surprised by this revelation. It also drew Sam's attention away from Lady Pickle Divine.

Anne Marie looked like she was considering hugging the well-dressed vampire, but instead she caught Sam's hand in her own, a very clear gesture. Christopher nodded in acknowledgement and lowered his arms.

"I see my little kitty cat has caught herself a Tom," Christopher said. "Such a pity… for me. I have missed you. We will have to catch up."

"Santiago, I ain' got nothin' say to you, me," Anne Marie said softly.

"You say that now, but trust me, you will later," Christopher said, and he laughed, a full, loud wicked laugh that echoed in the street. "But now, come in, come in, all of you. The show is about to start and I have a special table arranged." He winked at Eric and wiggled his eyebrows at Bill and Pam. "Not to mention something EXTRA special for the three of you."

Eric, who had been looking quite amused at the exchange between Christopher and Anne Marie, immediately became wary. The owner of Bloody Mary's swept his way through the red velvet curtains that veiled the entrance to the club, waving them to follow. Eric took Peggy's hand.

"We don't have to stay if you don't want to," Peggy heard Sam say in a low, urgent voice to Anne Marie.

"No, s'okay, Sam," Anne Marie said. "Safer to stay than go."

"How do you know him?" Sam asked, and Peggy knew he meant Christopher.

"I date him once," Anne Marie said.

Eric stopped in his tracks, causing Peggy to bump into him, Pam to bump into her, and Bill and Sookie to bump into Pam.

"Eric!" Pam growled.

Eric shook his head, chuckling, and kept walking as Christopher led them down the dim hallway into the main body of Bloody Mary's.

"You dated him?" Sam growled.

"We talk 'bout it LATER, Sam," Anne Marie growled back.

"I can't believe it," Sookie said, "And all this time you've been so hard on me and Peggy for datin' vampires."

"Maybe I got a reason!" snapped Anne Marie.

Christopher stopped at the end of the hallway, then dramatically pulled the golden cord holding the curtain at the end of it, revealing a small room, decorated in Art Deco, with a long catwalk down the middle of it that disappeared backstage behind yet another red velvet curtain.

Tables for the patrons filled up both sides of the room, and along both the left and right walls were ornate bars, each staffed with three lovely, human drag queen bartenders. The waitresses serving the tables appeared to be human as well, and the crowd was a mix of humans and vampires, and possibly a few shifters. Everyone was dressed up. Despite the abundance of queens, it was a classy joint.

Performing on the catwalk… singing and not lip-synching as in most drag shows… was an ethereally lovely creature who put real women to shame. A flash of fang told everyone that she was most definitely a vampire. She finished her song and as she sashayed away, every pair of eyes in the house was on her.

"All the performers are immortals," Christopher told Peggy and Eric, winking. "Though the staff is human."

"I am very much looking forward to the midnight show," Eric said. "I have heard so much about this place."

"And you, Margaret, my sweetness?"

"Very little, I'm afraid."

"But I know you enjoy the unusual," Christopher said.

Peggy nodded. "Yes."

"Ah, here we go…" Christopher swept a little RESERVED sign from a table close to the edge of the catwalk and seated them. "Kinkerbelle will be your waitress. If she fails you in any way, just let me know and I'll have her killed," he said so cheerfully that Peggy wasn't sure if he were kidding or not. She suspected not. Sookie gasped in horror and her mouth stayed open as the waitress approached. Kinkerbelle wore high heels that sent a light of envy into Pam's eyes, and a short, fluffy skirt covered with so much glitter that it followed her in a trail. Christopher beamed at her and she beamed back, clearly eager to please the club's owner. "Kicksy, these are my special, honored guests. Anything they want, and give the bill to me."

"It's my pleasure to serve you," Kinkerbelle (or Kicksy) said in a deep, honeyed voice.

"I hope all of you will try the House Special," Christopher said. "Of course, the vampire and human versions are slightly different."

"That sounds delightful," said Eric.

"And perhaps a bowl of cream for you, Annie?" Christopher said, winking at Anne Marie.

"Go stake you'self," Anne Marie said.

Christopher laughed. "You haven't changed a bit, have you, Puss? All that fire. Now. I am going to Emcee the show, of course, so you must excuse me. I will return later to see how you like the House Special. Trust me, it's a treat."

With a swirl of his cape, he was off, and Kinkerbelle returned with the beverages. They were served in Hurricane glasses like the ones at Pat O'Brien's, only each drink was lit with a glowing light-up ice cube. The vampires' drinks looked much thicker than the humans', of course. A bendy straw had been set into each glass and Eric looked at his with amusement.

"So how many vampires have you dated, Anne Marie?" Eric asked, taking a sip of his drink. He looked at the glass and frowned. "This tastes…different."

"Jus' dat one," Anne Marie growled, picking up her glass.

"Maybe it's a new blood substitute," said Bill, taking a long slurp through his straw. His fangs sprang out immediately. "I rather like it."

"So we can see," said Pam, tasting hers. "Hmm."

Sam and Sookie seemed to be mostly toying with the straws in their drinks, but Anne Marie sucked hers down with a rather grim expression. Peggy sipped hers. It was damned good. Rum, she thought, but she wasn't sure. It did go down easy. She couldn't remember the last time she'd had so much to drink. Relaxing, she snuggled close to Eric. He started to pet her hair and play with it, and she could see that his fangs were showing as well.

By the time Christopher stepped onto the catwalk to introduce the midnight show, they were on the second round of drinks, except for Sam and Sookie, and Anne Marie was on her third.

"I feel…very strange," Pam said to Eric. Only she said it in Swedish, and she didn't seem to realize that she had switched over from English.

Bill was staring at his glass curiously. Staring…then drinking…then staring more, then drinking more. "I think I know what it is."

"It's a drink, Bill," said Eric, then he began laughing so heartily that everyone at their table and from a few tables around them stopped to stare at him.

"Yes," said Bill. "Eric… these drinks somehow have alcohol in them."

"I thought you said vampires couldn't get drunk," said Sam.

"I think Bill's right," said Pam, switching back to English.

Eric's blue eyes widened and he stared around the table at all of them. "Christopher Santiago is a GENIUS," he said.

Before any of them could reply, the midnight show at Bloody Mary's, the premier vampire drag bar in the French Quarter, began.


	14. Chapter 14

Still drunk, but Sam was trying to come down. Learning that the vampires were becoming intoxicated from the House Special went a long way towards sobering him up. Drunk vampires were an unknown quantity, one that could prove very dangerous to all of them, but especially to Sookie and Peggy. What if Bill and Eric decided to bite them and then couldn't stop, having lost what measure of control that they possessed to the alcohol? Christopher Santiago's concoction was a dangerous one.

And then there was Anne Marie's confession that she had dated Santiago. A million questions swam in Sam's mind about this. He knew she would answer them, but he also knew that she didn't want to do it here, in front of the whole group. Still, he was shocked that even if she hadn't told him – and he had never asked her about her past or her sexual history – that she hadn't told Sookie and Peggy, her two closest friends whom she constantly admonished for their own involvement with vampires.

On top of that was Lady Pickle Divine, the Bloody Mary's door hostess. Sam was absolutely sure it had been her who had been following them in the cemetery that afternoon. He decided he would question her again.

"Going to the restroom," he announced to the table at large just as Christopher Santiago stepped on stage to emcee the show. Anne Marie nodded at him but the rest of them hardly seemed to notice. Sam slipped out of the club, down the long hallway, to the front door.

Lady Pickle Divine was not at her post.

Cursing, Sam made his way back to his seat. Whatever Santiago was saying was apparently funny, because there was much laughter coming from the club. He noticed at once that both Bill and Eric were gone from the table… but they returned a few seconds after Sam with another round of drinks. Sam wondered what happened to Kinkerbelle, their waitress, and hoped she wouldn't suffer because Eric Northman had been made to go to the bar.

Even with all this, Sam was sort of touched that the two vampires had thought to bring drinks for him and Anne Marie as well as for Pam and their own dates. It was almost thoughtful. Heck with it. Sam drank, letting the rum flood him, warming him, chilling him, exciting and dulling him all at once. He bent over and kissed Anne Marie on the cheek, and she smiled at him.

"…and now," said Santiago, from the stage, "Bloody Mary's, the French Quarter's premier vampire establishment and drag club presents…Miss Simone de la Boudoir in our world famous ABBA show!"

A dozen vampire beauties danced onto the stage in dazzling outfits reminiscent of the 1970s, only with more sequins, more feathers, more spandex and more femininity than real women could ever achieve. Sam had to admit that the tune was catchy and the act was perfect.

And then, there she was, the star of the act, Simone de la Boudoir. She had elaborately curled red hair, long lashes, and huge, delicious fake breasts. If Sam hadn't known she was both a man and a vampire, he would have found her absolutely mouthwatering, a fact that would have distressed him if he had been remotely sober.

Anne Marie grabbed his hand and squeezed his fingers, but Sam couldn't tear his eyes away from the vampire drag queen who was sweetly belting out "Super Trouper." She was moving and bouncing over the stage seductively, elaborately, perfectly.

Peggy and Sookie were singing along with the song, and Sam thought he could hear Eric chuckling. He glanced at Pam and saw that for once she didn't look bored, likely due to the House Special, a drink to intoxicate a vampire. Bill seemed to be rocking out a little bit, his fangs still fully extended.

Sam's fingers suddenly hurt, and he looked at Anne Marie. She was pale as a sheet, her green eyes huge as she stared at Simone de la Boudoir, who seemed to be directing the more lewd parts of her act towards Santiago, who stood in the back of the room.

"Are you okay, cher?" he asked.

"Sam…" she whispered.

"What is it?"

"That—that my—"

Simone de la Boudoir suddenly turned to play up to their table, since they were, after all, the guests of the house. She shook her boobs at Eric, winked at Bill, licked her lips at Sam… which had an embarrassing effect on him, a stirring he hadn't expected one bit.

And then she saw Anne Marie.

The drag queen went pale, even for a vampire, and stumbled over the lyrics to her song. However, a consummate professional, she quickly recovered, turned away from their table and went on to finish the act. The song ended and she flashed off the stage abruptly to the cheers and whistles of the crowd.

"Sam," said Anne Marie, "That my brother."

"Wait…what?" said Sam.

Eric smirked at Anne Marie. "Did you enjoy the show?"

"That my brother," Anne Marie said again, more loudly, so that Sookie and Peggy both stared in surprise and Pam began to slowly smirk. Bill just looked as confused as Sam felt but Eric was laughing. "You KNEW, Eric Northman!"

Bloody tears of laughter ran from Eric's eyes and Sam clutched at Anne Marie to stop her from launching herself across the table at him.

"Yes…" Eric admitted.

"My BROTHER is a VAMPIRE!" said Anne Marie.

"And a drag queen," Pam added.

"It certainly seems to be the case," said Eric.

"Eric!" said Peggy, sounding appalled. "You should have told her."

"Perhaps I should have," said Eric, trying to sound contrite but unable to suppress his laughter. "Or maybe Christopher might have let her know. After all, he is the one who made Simone vampire."

"That not be true," Anne Marie growled. "Can't be! Can't be!"

She was starting to shake and tremble, and Sam instinctively pulled her close. "Shh, darling. It's okay, it's okay," he said, even though he knew that it wasn't. He didn't know what to feel, what he would have felt if he weren't so, so drunk.

Kinkerbelle approached the table. "Miss Boudreaux, your presence is requested backstage."

"What?" said Anne Marie, looking on the verge of tears. Sam had never seen her cry. The thought of it made his stomach turn.

"Miss Boudoir would like you to join her for a private drink in her dressing room," said Kinkerbelle.

"Anne Marie… you should go," whispered Peggy.

Anne Marie let go of Sam's hand long enough to reach across the table and take Peggy's. "I got to, don' I?"

Peggy nodded. "Yes. Remember, he's still your brother."

"Sam, you go with her," said Sookie.

Sam nodded. "You want me to come with you, Anne Marie?"

"Yes." She forced herself to her feet, and Sam stood as well.

Kinkerbelle beckoned and the two of them followed her, Eric's laughter floating after them until Sam heard and exaggerated "ow!" and knew that Peggy had smacked him. The waitress took them down a little hallway and through another series of velvet curtains until they arrived at a small dressing room. Looking ridiculously gorgeous and perfect, Simone de la Boudoir sat waiting.

"Anne Marie," said the drag queen, her luminous green eyes glinting beautifully in the dim light.

"Simone," Anne Marie said stiffly.

Simone looked at Sam appreciatively. "And who is this lovely hunk of boudin sausage?" She had very little hint of a Cajun accent, just the softest twang.

"Dis Sam," said Anne Marie, "An he MINE!"

Sam arched an eyebrow. Simone grinned. "Well," she said, "I'm glad you seem to be settling down from your wild ways, you."

"Simone," Anne Marie said, "You a vampire?"

"Yes, little sister. And I'm not sorry."

"Dey say Christopher make you."

"He did. And I love him," said Simone, lifting her chin.

"You wanted dis?" Anne Marie asked. "He din force you?'

"He didn't force me," Simone insisted, smiling gently.

"You know that is not in my character, Anne Marie," Christopher Santiago said from the doorway.

Anne Marie turned at him, fire in her eyes. "It 'zactly in your character, Santiago. It amuse you."

"Aww. I thought you knew me better than that." Santiago spread his hands.

"Know ya far too well, you."

Sam looked back and forth between them. Before he could even formulate a thought, Eric stood in the doorway.

"Santiago," Eric said, "There's a problem."


	15. Chapter 15

As Anne Marie and Sam left the table, Peggy glared at Eric. He had played a dirty trick on the Cajun shifter.

"Why, Eric?" she asked simply. Sookie glared at him as well, though Pam and Bill looked away.

"Because it amused me," Eric said, giving her a harsh look.

"She's my friend," Peggy said.

"So is Christopher Santiago," Eric pointed out. "Really, he's the one you should be angry at."

Peggy sighed. "Maybe so. Although knowing him, this doesn't surprise me one bit."

"But knowing Eric, it does surprise you?" asked Sookie.

Peggy looked at Eric, then chuckled bitterly. "I suppose it shouldn't."

Eric took her hand in his and started stroking her fingers. "Now, my darling, do not be angry," he wheedled, and she was all too susceptible to his charm when he chose to use it on her. "This was the best way for her to find out."

Peggy wasn't sure how this was so, but she was still rather drunk, and Eric was making her wild with desire that there was no place for them to go to fulfill. She simply nodded and leaned closer to him. Eric bent and kissed her, kneading her lower lip gently with his teeth, his fangs prominent but not piercing her.

"Peggy!" Sookie hissed.

"Let them be," Bill said softly.

Eric let her up for breath and she was shaking. He smiled wickedly. His mouth tasted different and she knew it was the House Special, the drink that was intoxicating all the vampires.

"How do you feel?" she whispered.

"Amazing," he said softly.

"It's dangerous, Eric."

"You say that a lot, Margaret."

"It's true."

He nodded. "I know. But I have not felt this way in a millennium." His blue eyes shined and she felt glad for him. Then he tore her gaze away from her and looked around the room, seeming thoughtful. "Wait here," he said, then he got up from the table and was gone.

"Where's he going?" Sookie asked, sounding alarmed.

"I don't know," Peggy said, surprised.

Sookie frowned. "I…I need to…"

"Pam, will you escort Sookie to the ladies' room?" Bill asked in a low voice.

"No," Pam drawled, toying with her straw.

"Come with me, Bill," Sookie insisted.

"Of course." Bill pushed up from his chair and wavered on his feet. Pam smirked at him, but he managed to take Sookie's elbow and guide her away.

Pam looked at Peggy sharply. "I have a feeling that something unpleasant is about to happen," she said.

"What makes you—" Peggy started but a moment later a cold arm came around her shoulders and a very large vampire plopped down into the seat Eric had formerly occupied.

"Hello, sweetheart," he said gregariously. He had slicked back hair of an indeterminate color, watery pale eyes and a pastel green suit that reminded her of a mint julep. His thick southern accent did the same, and his sharply visible fangs gave no illusion to what he was. "You look like a real woman. Are ya?"

"Yes!" Peggy gasped, trying to get out from under his arm. She looked at Pam for help. Pam rolled her eyes.

"She belongs to Eric Northman," Pam drawled.

"Does she now? The King of the Krewe of Ancients! I sure would like to be in his shoes. Woo-ee, well, that boy sure has good taste. And yet, he's left you all alone," the vampire said. "I'm Gregory Marstock."

"I suggest you move along, Mr. Marstock," Pam said.

"Who's this, your body guard?"

"She's Eric's second in command. And, please let go of me, Mr. Marstock."

The vampire chuckled. "Feisty!"

"Eric will tear your arm off if he sees it around his human," Pam commented, taking another sip of her drink.

"You havin' the House Special?" Gregory Marstock winked at Pam, who shrugged, then stood up.

"Come on. Margaret. We better go find Eric before one of these drunken idiots eats you and winds up with a stake in his heart."

Peggy forced her way to her feet, managing to dislodge the drunken interloper, who began laughing loudly.

"You tell Eric Northman he's a fool, and he don't know it yet!" he said, wiping his eyes of watery-bloody tears as Pam began to lead Peggy backstage.

"Where are we going, Pam?"

"The way I saw Eric go," Pam said. "I'm not going to ruin my outfit fighting off some Southern bohunk."

"You do look very pretty," Peggy said.

Pam smiled at her in amusement. "Don't tempt me."

"To what?"

But then they were behind Eric, whose big Viking body was filling up a doorway. Peggy admired his backside and thought about what it looked like without clothes.

"Santiago," Eric said, "There's a problem."

"Eric," Pam said, "There's a problem."

Eric turned around, and as he moved, Peggy could see into the room beyond him. It was clearly Simone de la Boudoir's dressing room. Sam and Anne Marie were inside with Simone, and Santiago was next to Eric, just beyond the doorway.

"Yes?" Eric asked Pam brusquely. Christopher winked at Peggy, and her stomach fluttered. How was that possible?

"You are about to lose your chippie to a drunken good ol' boy," Pam drawled.

Eric sighed. He reached out and pulled Peggy against him. "Really, do I have to take you everywhere?"

"You should," said Christopher sharply. "You cannot blame my guests for desiring her. She is particularly delectable."

"Stop," said Eric. "If you make me angry with you, your problem will be worse."

"And what problem is that?" Christopher asked, cocking his head.

"Your hostess has been murdered," Eric said.

Christopher frowned, but Simone gasped. "Not Pickle!" she cried. Eric nodded. Sam cursed, which caused Anne Marie to raise an eyebrow. Simone jumped to her feet on her high heels and pushed past them, running down the hallway. They all followed, Peggy finding herself swept along by Eric.

Later, she wished she hadn't seen the body. Lady Pickle Divine had her throat slashed, and the walls of the bathroom stall she had been dumped in were thick with blood. Pam licked her lips, but Simone howled with grief. Christopher frowned, but his fangs had clicked out. It was hard for any vampire to be around so much blood without a reaction, Peggy knew. Eric, however, was under control.

"I will take care of this," Christopher said. "Come now, Simone. Everyone, step out."

"I trust you have a cleaning crew," said Eric.

"Of course," Christopher snapped. "But believe me when I tell you that this is an unusual situation."

Simone looked devastated. She turned to Anne Marie, who was frowning, unreadable.

"I need ta go back de hotel, Sam," Anne Marie said softly.

"How do we know one of you shifters isn't the perpetrator of this crime?" Christopher demanded.

"Christopher!" Peggy gasped. "They would never!"

"How well do you really know them, Margaret?"

"Well enough!"

"Thank you, Peggy," said Anne Marie. She kissed Peggy on the cheek, and then Sam swept her down the hallway.

"Anne Marie!" Simone called. "Wait!"

"I talk to ya later, you," Anne Marie called back.

Simone turned and walked back to her dressing room, looking broken. Peggy looked at Christopher, but he was paying no mind to the drag queen. He looked at Eric sharply.

"Northman—"

"Santiago, it wasn't me, and it wasn't the shifters, either," Eric said in a low voice. "No matter how drunk all of us were."

"Or still might be?" Christopher asked lightly. Eric did not reply, but his heavy gaze was impressive even to Peggy. Christopher finally sighed. "This will not go to the human police, but the Queen will hear about it," he said.

"I know," Eric replied. "I suggest you vouch for my party, and I will do the same for you."

Christopher nodded. "And yet," he said, "It seems we have a mystery on our hands. I shall have to make some…inquiries…amongst my staff."


	16. Chapter 16

Sam and Anne Marie stood in the street outside of Bloody Mary's. A chill wind blew, mercifully penetrating through Sam's drunken blur, sobering him, waking him. The hostess post was deserted and Lady Pickle Divine would never fill it again. Who had killed her?

Both Eric and Bill had been away from the table long enough to do it… but so had Sam himself. It didn't make sense for Christopher Santiago to kill his own hostess (unless he was setting someone up) and for some reason, Sam didn't think Simone had done it. Had to be someone else, Sam thought. Had to be someone totally unrelated to their group. After all the place was crawling with vampires.

"Vampires wouldn'ta lef' the body so fulla blood," Anne Marie said, and for a moment Sam wondered if she could read his mind like Sookie. He must have looked startled because she said, "We just thinkin' de same thoughts, dawlin'."

"We should go back to the hotel," Sam said. "We can talk about it there."

Anne Marie nodded. "I s'pect we got a lot to talk about."

"Sure," said Sam, suddenly remembering her earlier confession to having dating Santiago.

"I tell you 'bout him," she promised.

They turned to walk away, but turned back at the sound of footsteps behind them.

"Wait," said Bill. He was ushering Sookie along. She did not look well. "Would you be so kind as to escort Sookie back to the hotel, Sam?"

Sam nodded. "Of course, but where are you going?"

"Eric has this meeting with the Vampire Businessmen's Association of Louisiana, that is, the Krewe of Ancients," Bill said, "I suspect it would be better for Sookie were she not to be present."

Sam understood, nodded. Sookie didn't look like she was in any shape to protest or argue. In fact, she looked like she was going to be sick.

"You okay, Sook?" Anne Marie asked, putting a gentle arm around her friend.

"Um…I don't know."

"What about Peggy?" Sam asked Bill. "She isn't any safer at such a meeting."

Bill nodded. "Unfortunately, Eric wants to keep her with him," he said grimly. "And you know how much good it does arguing with Eric."

Sam nodded. He worried for Peggy, even thought there was nothing he could do about it. "All right."

"I trust you will keep Sookie safe."

"I will."

"Thank you." Bill turned to go.

"Bill?" Sam asked.

Bill turned back. "Yes?"

"Are you sober?"

Bill thought for a long moment, seeming very serious. "Mostly, I believe. I think the effects of that tasty beverage are wearing off. Still… intriguing, isn't it? A drink that can intoxicate vampires. Mr. Santiago is bound to make a fortune."

"It's dangerous," Sam said simply.

Bill nodded. "Yes," he agreed. "It is." And then, as if he had no more to say, he bent and kissed Sookie on the forehead, and melted away back into the club.

"I need to lie down," Sookie gasped.

"Should we call a cab?" Sam asked. "It's eight blocks to the hotel."

"Walkin' be good for her. Fresh air," said Anne Marie.

"I'll try to walk," said Sookie.

For the first two blocks, they just concentrated on moving. Sam felt his buzz slipping further and further away as he alerted his senses for danger. New Orleans was crawling with vampires, after all, and now they were not traveling in the company of one. They had only names of connections to protect them.

"I forgive you," Sookie said to Anne Marie after a few minutes.

"For what?" Sam asked before he realized that Sookie was apparently (though not likely on purpose) reading Anne Marie's thoughts.

"Not tell her 'bout me datin' Santiago," Anne Marie clarified, a blush staining her freckled cheeks. "Hope you forgive me too, you."

"Nothin' to forgive," Sam insisted. "I never asked who you dated before me, and it doesn't make any difference as to how I feel about you."

Sookie beamed, then looked nauseas again. "Sam, you're finally in love," she blurted.

"Well, that isn't news," Sam said levelly, but he felt his own face heat up. He did try to put up a wall in his mind, though, so Sookie couldn't read it even by accident.

"Thank you," Sookie sighed. "Much quieter." And Sam knew that Anne Marie had probably done the same thing.

"She cain't help it, Sam," Anne Marie said.

"I know."

"Might as well tell you both," she looked off down the street, meeting neither of their gazes as she spoke. "It a long time ago, and I very young, me. First time in N'awlins. My brothers Nicolas and Simone, dey both jes move here. I come wid Gran-mawmaw for visit, but I tink I more grown up den I was. Sneak out, lookin' for trouble. Playin' cat in the streets. And den I meet him. Vampires still secret, den, so I din believe what he was at first. But maybe he din believe what I was, neither."

She smiled, thinking back, and Sam felt a bitter stab of jealousy as he saw those old feelings on her face. She had really cared for this Christopher Santiago.

"He take me nice places, an' secret clubs. Buy me drinks. Make me feel grown up. Bite me real nice…"

"You let him bite you," said Sookie.

"You let Bill bite you," Anne Marie pointed out.

"That's different."

"No," said Anne Marie. "It not no different. I think I'm in love, me. But den I learn he got others. So many others. Dey all love him, dat Santiago."

"He cheated on you?" Sookie sounded disgusted.

"He never promise me nothin', so how it be cheatin'?"

"It was cheating," Sam said grimly.

Anne Marie shrugged. "He promise to marry me. Say I always be his bride… but he promise at leas' fifty others, too." She sighed. "Plus den I learn if I turn vampire, I lose my shiftin' power."

"I'm glad you're not a vampire," said Sam.

"Me, too," said Sookie. "He sounds like a real jerk."

"He seems that way in person, too," Sam added.

Anne Marie laughed. "He not so bad… but he is what he is. Trickster. Lover of many. Lover of all. Lover of only himself. Lover of none. Heartless."

"Do you think he killed that poor girl? Or was she a boy?" Sookie pondered.

"No," Anne Marie said with utter conviction. "Dat not his style."

"Anne Marie," said Sam, "I'm sorry about this. I'm sorry about your brother."

"My brother as dumb as me. Simone in love wid Christopher. I only hope Christopher not take him jes to play games."

"Would he do that?" Sookie asked, her blue eyes wide. At least she looked a bit less like she might vomit, Sam thought.

Anne Marie shrugged. "Mebbe."

They walked another block and Anne Marie looked so thoughtful that he envied Sookie's talent. What was she thinking? She looked so wistful, so far away, as if she were remembering her times with Christopher Santiago. The love she had felt for him. Jealousy bit at Sam's gut, but he forced it aside. He had no right to feel jealous, and no reason to, either.

Then she looked at Sam. Her green eyes shined in the darkness, and Sam's nerves melted away. There was nothing but affection for him in that gaze, affection Sam knew he should never have questioned. He almost told her he loved her just then. Only Sookie's presence held him back, though he knew Sook wouldn't have minded.

"Got to talk to Simone," she said. "Got to make sure he's happy, him."

Sam nodded. "We can go back to the club tomorrow if you want."

But it turned out there was no need. As they arrived back at the Prince Conti Hotel, Simone de la Boudoir, formerly known as Simon Boudreaux, was waiting for them in the lobby.

Sam almost didn't recognize him. No longer a sequined drag queen with impressive fake breasts, there stood in the lobby only an extraordinarily good looking young man with curly red hair and large green eyes. He was taller than Anne Marie, but aside from that looked very much like her.

He had the kind of face that would draw admiring looks from both men and women. Simone had very feminine features, high cheekbones, and still a hint of makeup. The heavy eye shadow and fake lashes were gone, but there was still a hint of liner and the ghost of red lipstick. Or maybe his lips were naturally that red.

Simone was dressed in jeans and a form-fitting black leather jacket, along with a pale blue scarf that was not necessary even in the chill of this night, but was rather an affectation. He was much paler than his sister, a tribute to his vampiric nature.

"Anne Marie," he said softly. "We really need to talk."

Anne Marie sighed. "Aw right. Sam, you kin take Sookie upstairs? I figure me an' my brother got family bidness."

She kissed Sam softly on the mouth, and pushed the button for the elevator.


	17. Chapter 17

The Krewe of Ancients all-vampire Mardi Gras club, presented by the Vampire Businessmen's Association of Louisiana, was holding their three a.m. meeting in the bar of the Hotel Monteleone at the top of Royal Street. The hotel had a carousel bar (aptly named the Carousel Bar) – that is, patrons rotated slowly around the bar as they sat enjoying their beverages. The bar was closed to the public now and had been rented specially for the meeting, and though some of the vampires' human companions were taking a liquored-up spin, the vampires were gathered at tables in the back of the room. Eric and Peggy, accompanied by Bill, Pam, and Christopher Santiago, arrived at the bar precisely at three a.m. only to be greeted by Gregory Marstock.

"Welcome, welcome," he said gregariously, shaking hands with Eric, Bill, and Christopher even though this was generally not done by vampires. "Eric Northman, Bill Compton, and of course, Chris Santiago."

Christopher shook his hand back with just as much enthusiasm and mimicking of good ol' Southern boy manners and Peggy had to bite her lip not to giggle. Bill looked as if he had been violated, Pam looked disgusted and Eric looked slightly amused, but also slightly appalled. Pam put her hands behind her back.

"Why Gregory Marstock, didn't I see you in my club tonight?" asked Christopher, who seemed to have suddenly developed a Southern accent he had quite failed to possess earlier.

"Indeed, indeed," said Marstock, nodding his greasy, pale head. "I was so sorry that you had no time to come by my table to say hello."

"I truly regret that," said Christopher, inclining his head.

"Especially when you had so much time for Mr. Northman, here."

"Well, he is the King of the Krewe, after all."

"I know, I know, and aren't both of us just jealous?" Marstock grinned cheerfully at Christopher but Peggy could hear the sharp edge beneath his falsely exuberant tone. "I know you campaigned pretty heavily for that honor, didn't you, Chris?" He elbowed Christopher.

"Not any more than you did, Greg," said Christopher, smiling broadly. "I guess Eric here must have more friends in high places than either of us do."

Eric arched an eyebrow. Peggy could sense that he was certain that there were plots laid and games being played which he knew nothing about and she was beginning to wonder if he shouldn't have turned down this "honor."

"Actually, the whole thing came as a surprise to me," Eric said mildly, forcing a smile.

"We were hardly aware that there was a vampire Mardi Gras krewe, never mind that Eric might be elected King," Pam drawled.

Marstock looked at her as she spoke and irritation flashed over his features. Peggy thought he had very little regard for females, vampire or human, since he hadn't bothered to greet her or Pam.

"This is my assistant, Pam," said Eric, "And my human, Margaret."

"Oh, we've met," said Pam. "In fact, Mr. Marstock introduced himself to Margaret earlier this evening."

"Did he, now?" said Eric, and the look he gave Marstock made the other vampire shift on his feet.

"I must compliment your excellent taste, Mr. Northman," Marstock said, bowing slightly. "You really should never leave such a blossoming flower unattended in a vampire establishment. One could get the idea that you might be tired of your plaything and ready to pass her along. And were that the case, I would graciously take her off of your hands."

Peggy was furious, but she said nothing. She had too much experience with vampires to mouth off at one who was eyeing her so hungrily, and she also knew that between Eric and Christopher, and for that matter Pam and Bill, she was perfectly safe.

"I am not remotely tired of her," said Eric, and to his credit he kept his tone genial.

"And if he were, there's a waiting list," Christopher smirked.

"A waiting list that I assure you is not the least bit necessary," Eric said, a little less genial to Christopher. He turned back to Marstock. "I did not leave her alone. I left her with Pam. Pam is very capable."

"And very pretty," Marstock said gallantly. At this, Pam rolled her eyes.

"I need a drink," she said, and she sauntered off to the revolving bar.

"Are you in charge of the meeting?" Bill asked Marstock, clearly attempting to diffuse the situation.

"No," said Marstock shortly. His charm seemed to be evaporating. "That would be Andre."

He turned, waving a hand at a very young-looking vampire who sat in a back corner, watching them intently. He had pale hair and eyes and a slightly rounded face, and was wearing a black leather trench coat. Something about him sent a shiver down Peggy's spine, as it did every time she had encountered him. He was the most dangerous creature she had ever met. He was very old, older than Eric, maybe even older than Godric had been. Barely knowing that she did so, she pressed closer to Eric.

Andre nodded slightly at them. Although the table at which he sat was nearly full of other vampires, none of them was sitting very close to him at all, though out of respect or fear Peggy didn't know. Likely some of each.

"Time to stop the chit-chat and start the meeting," said Christopher.

"Delightful to see you again, Margaret," Andre said. "I was so sorry to hear about Godric."

She was not entirely sure that he meant it, but that didn't matter. She knew it was a very big deal that he had addressed her before Eric or Bill or Christopher. Eric knew it too, because he laid a possessive and not at all casual hand on her shoulder.

"Please give my best to Sophie-Anne," Peggy said, trying not to sound nervous. Andre worked for the Queen.

"I will, my dear. Eric, what a gift your maker left you."

"One that I treasure," said Eric.

"So I have heard," said Andre. "I know that you would like to keep this gift for a very long time. I trust you remember that you are the Queen's servant and will always abide by her wishes."

"Of course," said Eric.

Peggy had no idea what Andre meant, but suddenly she knew that Eric had made some decision he had not discussed with her. A flare of anger rose up with in her and she looked up at him, but when he looked back at her there was a warning in his eyes. Immediately she looked down at the floor, knowing that Andre had marked this.

"Margaret, you should join the other companions at the bar," Eric said, but he didn't take his hand off of her shoulder so she effectively couldn't move away.

"And where is your companion tonight, Bill?" Andre asked pointedly.

"She was ill, so I sent her to bed," Bill said.

"I see," said Andre. "And Christopher… I understand that there was an incident tonight at your establishment."

Christopher smiled broadly, spreading his hands. "Very unfortunate," he said, "But taken care of."

"Is it, now?" Andre asked quietly.

"The human was one of mine," Christopher said politely.

"Yet in this harsh economic climate, it is best to avoid such incidents," Andre said softly. "Tourism is the life's blood of Louisiana. If the tourists don't feel safe visiting such highly advertised clubs as Bloody Mary's, all of our positions are weakened."

"I understand," Christopher said, his expression going blank. He was no longer making an attempt to be sly or witty or charming.

"Do you know who committed the incident?" Andre asked.

"No," Christopher said flatly. Gregory Marstock smirked slightly.

"I suggest you find out."

"I will."

Andre nodded. "And now," he said, "On to more pleasant matters. Eric, our congratulations at being honored as King of the Krewe of Ancients."

"Thank you," said Eric.

"We have much to discuss regarding the details of the parade, then my seamstress will take your measurements for the costume." Andre looked over at the bar. An older human woman with a tape measure hanging around her neck was whooping it up with a couple of young men. Peggy smiled and wondered if the woman would be able to take measurements at all in the state she was in.

"Thank you," Eric said again. He did not look enthusiastic in the least.

"Margaret, please feel free to enjoy the bar," Andre said and Eric finally lifted his hand off of her shoulder. Even though the last thing she wanted was another drink, Peggy slipped away from Eric and found a seat near the ebullient seamstress.

She watched as best she could, though her seat was rotating around the carousel bar, as Eric took a seat near Andre and everyone else was shuffled to the far end of the table. Pam, however, managed to slip up and stand behind Eric. Peggy was glad he had someone watching his back. Pam might not be her best friend, but she was completely loyal to Eric and that alone made Peggy fond of her. That, and the fact that she was an excellent person to go shopping with.

"You with the Viking, honey?" asked the seamstress, leaning across the lap of the young man who sat between her and Peggy. "Now that's a big hunk of historical blond hotness, right there! Let me buy you a drink! Bartender, we need some bourbon over here, stat!"


	18. Chapter 18

Sam had one hell of a hangover. If he thought yesterday morning had been bad, today was even worse. He really had to stop drinking so much or he would never survive two weeks in New Orleans. Before he was one hundred percent awake, Peggy was giving him water and aspirin. In the other bed across the small hotel room, Sookie was looking to be in just as bad shape.

"Where's Anne Marie?" Sam asked.

"I don't know," said Peggy.

"She didn't come in last night?" Sookie said, her blue eyes wide.

Sam remembered then that Anne Marie had gone to speak with her brother and he and Sookie had crashed hard. He vaguely remembered Peggy coming in just before dawn, of seeing Eric kissing her in the doorway, hearing her giggling, sending him to his coffin in the other hotel room. Anne Marie had not been back then, but Sam had been too fuzzy to worry. He was making up for it now. Sitting bolt upright, Sam grabbed for his cell phone.

He looked at it with only a small amount of relief. "She called!"

Sookie and Peggy erupted in a babble of questions and Sam waved wildly for them to be quiet while he stabbed at the buttons on his phone to get to the message. A moment later, he was calling Anne Marie's number.

"Hope I din worry you, Sam," she said.

"You sound tired," Sam said, trying to be sympathetic. "But yes, I was worried half to death!"

"For all of two minutes," Sookie mumbled. Peggy elbowed her to shut up.

"I din get much sleep, me," said Anne Marie.

"Well, where are you?" Sam asked.

"Meet me at Napoleon House on Chartres," she said. "We have lunch. Bring de girls if dey up. San'wiches here not to be missed."

"Um… okay," said Sam.

"Love you, Sam Merlotte," said Anne Marie, then she hung up.

"What did she say?" Peggy asked. She had no right to be looking so fresh and put together and hangover-free, Sam thought.

"She said we're going to have sandwiches," Sam said.

"What?" asked Sookie. "Oh… well. Give me a minute to get dressed."

Half an hour later, they stood outside the Napoleon House in the warm afternoon sunlight. It was nearly 3 p.m. Sam realized. He never slept this late. Damn vampires. Damn alcohol. The old brick building that housed the restaurant was impressive and despite the superior smile of the waiter who met them at the door, seemed welcoming. The room housed a large, impressive antique wooden carved bar of European origin. The walls of the room appeared in need of paint, and several doorways led out to a green courtyard. Sam saw Anne Marie at a back table and the greeter ushered them in.

She had already ordered the food. There was a pitcher of (and Sam winced) what appeared to be Bloody Marys on the table as well as the biggest sandwich Sam had ever seen, cut into quarters and garnished with pickles, olives, and jalapeno peppers. It was hot and smelled fantastic. His stomach growled, and he was amazed that even with his head feeling like it had been kicked by a mule, he was starving. Sam bent and kissed Anne Marie, then settled down next to her at the small, old table flanked with even older looking chairs. Peggy and Sookie sat across from them.

"We were worried about you, honey," Sookie said, reaching across the table and taking Anne Marie's hand.

"What kind of sandwich is that?" asked Sam.

"I was wid my brother," said Anne Marie, "And dat a muffuletta. Ham, salami, pastrami, cheese, olive salad."

"Olive salad?" asked Sookie.

"Olive, carrot, onion, cauliflower…mos'ly olive."

"Any garlic?"

"Mebbe a little."

"I'm having some anyway," said Peggy.

"Are you mad at Eric?" Sookie asked.

Peggy smiled dreamily. "No… but I might be, later."

Sam decided not to ask. He let Anne Marie portion out the sandwich onto their various plates and pour drinks.

"Ugh," said Sookie. "I don't know if I can…"

"Cajun Bloody Mary," said Anne Marie. "Bes' thing for hangover." Judging from her glass, she'd already had one or two, Sam thought.

He was full of questions that he didn't know how to ask, his head still hurt, and part of him was annoyed that she hadn't come in the night before, so he stayed quiet, sipped his drink, and read the back of the menu.

He learned that the building was over two hundred years old and had previously been home to the Mayor of New Orleans in the early nineteenth century. This mayor had offered his house as a refuge to Napoleon when he was sent into exile, and though the Frenchman had never made it to New Orleans, the building found itself stuck with the name.

Sam put down the menu and picked up the sandwich. He took a bite and juice from the olive salad ran down his chin, but he didn't care. It was delicious. He wolfed it down happily, wishing it had even more garlic. He noticed that despite their vampire lovers, neither Peggy nor Sookie held back, either.

"So, what happened with your brother?" Sookie asked, delicately wiping her mouth. Sam was not surprised that Peggy had drained her Bloody Mary but he was amazed that Sookie had. This trip wasn't good for any of their drinking habits. Oh well, it was a vacation, wasn't it? He refilled his glass. The bite of Tabasco in the drink suited him.

"It boil down to he a vampire and he in love wid Santiago," Anne Marie said flatly.

"Christopher is easy to love," said Peggy.

"I know dat too, me," said Anne Marie.

"How can you two say that?" Sookie asked, he blue eyes wide.

"Sookie, you silly girl, it don' mean we love him no more. I wid Sam, and ain' no one else. And I 'spect Peggy say de same bout her Viking."

"Exactly the same," Peggy said, giving Sookie a sharp look. "Christopher has only ever been my friend—"

"He was more than a friend to Anne Marie!"

"Thank you, Sookie, for pointing that out," said Sam, annoyed.

"Well, I'm sorry, Sam, but I think this Christopher Santiago is playing games with everyone here. Or have you forgotten that he tried to get Eric, Bill, and Pam drunk last night?" Sookie demanded.

"Tried, nothing," said Sam, "He DID get them drunk."

"Well… they sobered up quickly," Peggy sighed.

"Good thing, because you two could be dead!" Sam snapped. "Does anyone else remember what happened to that—that hostess last night?" He held up a pickle from the plate to emphasize his point.

Peggy and Sookie both started to protest, but Anne Marie held up her hands and they fell quiet.

"Santiago mebbe not be trusted, but he never harm me or Peggy, him," Anne Marie said firmly.

"And what about your brother?" Sookie asked. "Honey, Santiago killed him."

"He make him vampire, yes, but dat what Simone want!"

"Let's just all stop arguing," Sam said sensibly, starting to feel the effects of his beverage. "Can we just all agree to be careful around this guy?"

"Yes," said Sookie, "And to watch out for Eric and Bill."

"And Pam," Peggy added.

"And Pam," Sookie agreed.

"I tink we can all agree to be careful," Anne Marie said.

A few moments of silence fell over the table, and everybody finished their sandwich and drinks. Sam debated ordering another pitcher of Cajun Bloody Marys. He was starting to feel pretty damn good.

"How de big vampire meeting go?" Anne Marie asked Peggy.

"It seems like every vampire there except Eric wants to be King of the Krewe," Peggy said, sighing. "I'm not sure why they picked Eric."

"Bad news," said Anne Marie. "You kin be sure."

"I agree," said Peggy, "But it's too late for him to back out. They already measured him for the costume." She giggled, covering her mouth with her hand as she did. "Boy, did that seamstress enjoy measuring him. If the pants don't fit perfectly, I'll be amazed."

Both Anne Marie and Sookie smiled at the thought and Sam was glad the tension was leaving the table. Or maybe it was that the drinks were getting to them as well.

"Who's going to ride on the float in the parade with him?" Sookie asked.

"Bill and that horrible Gregory Marstock."

"Who's Gregory Marstock?" asked Sam.

"A greasy Southern bohunk who tried to pick me up at Bloody Mary's. Apparently he runs some sort of riverboat jazz dinner cruise that brings loads of tourists to New Orleans," Peggy said. "In fact, after we see Sophie-Anne tonight, Eric and I have to go on the cruise. We have tickets for everyone, if you want to come."

"Great," Sam said. He could think of few things he wanted to do less than spend a couple of hours on a riverboat full of vampires… but somehow he knew that's where they all were going to wind up.

"Sounds like fun," Sookie said enthusiastically.

Peggy looked at Anne Marie. "Christopher was supposed to ride on the float, but at the Queen's request Marstock is replacing him…because of the murder in his club last night."


	19. Chapter 19

Back before vampires had come out of the coffin, the steamboat jazz dinner cruise had sailed at seven p.m. Whether it had been owned by Gregory Marstock at that point, Peggy wasn't sure. She did remember taking the cruise with Godric, him pretending to be human and loading up a plate he would never touch at the buffet. He liked to smell the food, to stir it around the plate, to cut it up, and sometimes to feed it to her. He had found some childlike amusement in that, she remembered.

Peggy remembered the menu vividly. In ten years it had never changed or varied – it was New Orleans favorites all the way. Jambalaya, red beans and rice, praline chicken, corn macque choux, salad, French bread, and bread pudding. She had always loved the bread pudding.

As she and Eric stood at the stern of the boat, looking down over the huge paddlewheel, she tried not to cry. She kept her expression plain and looked out over the dark Mississippi river. Eric slipped an arm around her and pulled her closer. This boat was sailing at ten p.m. – the vampire cruise, they called it. There was dinner served for human companions, but there were many fewer people dining. Vampires each received a complimentary bottle of True Blood with their ticket.

Sookie, Sam and Anne Marie were in the dining room, availing themselves of the food, and presumably Bill was with them. Pam had skipped the cruise and had promised to meet them later at a bar in the French Quarter called the Dungeon. Peggy wasn't terribly hungry after the meeting with Sophie-Anne Leclerq, so she and Eric were outside enjoying the fresh air.

"The Queen was not amused that Bill did not bring Sookie to meet her," Eric said softly. The three vampires and Peggy had spent an hour "having tea" as Peggy thought of it, though there wasn't actually any tea served, with Sophie-Anne and Andre. It had been a tense evening of manners, posturing, and false politeness. She didn't dislike the queen, but such rigid behavior was exhausting.

"But, why?" Peggy asked. "She never cared for meeting any human that I knew of. In fact, most vampires keep their humans away from her for fear that she will demand to taste them."

"But Godric brought you in front of her," Eric mused. "Did she ever taste you?"

"No," said Peggy shortly.

Eric turned and looked at her. He tilted his head and smiled wonderingly. "You wish she had."

"Of course I don't wish that," said Peggy, suddenly feeling irritated.

"You do," Eric insisted. "And you wish for Pam to taste you, too. You want to know what it is like to be with a female!"

"Eric!"

He chuckled and bent his head to lick the shell of her ear, then blow on it gently. Peggy nearly collapsed into his arms. "I could arrange it. Pam will do whatever I tell her."

"Eric…" But now it was more of a gasp than a protest as he pulled her against his tall, hard body.

"She would enjoy you very much," he said, but there was a hint of jealousy in his tone.

"I would rather not," Peggy said. She turned so she could look into his eyes. "Let's not play these games, Eric. You don't want any other vampire to taste me and I don't want anyone but you."

"I would taste you right now, but it is not allowed in public."

She sighed. "I know."

"Silly human rules," he murmured. He kissed her throat, her ear, then her lips… Peggy kissed him back. She wanted him so badly. She wondered if there was anywhere at all they could sneak off to. But then she remembered…

"You didn't answer my question."

Eric lifted his golden head. "The Queen knows about Sookie's talent, Margaret."

"Well, no wonder Bill is keeping her away," Peggy said. "I don't think Sookie would enjoy being in the involuntary employ of Sophie-Anne."

Eric nodded and let go of her just slightly. He lifted his gaze and stared out over the water. The boat sounded its horn and the wheel began to turn as they headed down the river. From somewhere inside, they heard the jazz band strike up. Eric tapped his foot rhythmically in time to the music and Peggy wondered if he was even aware he was doing so.

He didn't speak for several long minutes, but through their blood bond Peggy knew he was thinking about Godric. She smiled, and forced herself to remember the good times they had had here without sadness. Dancing together to the jazz band on this very ship. Laughing over something silly. Holding hands in a very simple, very innocent, human fashion.

After a few minutes, she felt Eric's mood change. It lightened, as if he couldn't help but he happy because she was. His foot-tapping to the music increased and he swayed slightly.

"Shall we go in and dance?" she asked.

"We can dance right here."

He took her in his arms again and they swayed together. He twirled her and turned her in time with the music. It wasn't loud out here, but they could hear it well enough to dance by. Eric was a much more skilled dancer than she was, but he was also a good partner and Peggy managed. Mostly.

"My foot!"

"I'm sorry!"

"What's the name of this song?" Eric asked.

"If Ever I Cease to Love," said Peggy. "It's the theme of Rex, King of Carnival."

"I thought I was the King of Carnival."

"Oh, no. You're the King of one krewe, obviously the vampire krewe. But Rex is the main event."

"Hmph."

Peggy chuckled. Eric winked at her.

"Did Godric dance with you like this?" Eric asked.

"Yes," Peggy said, smiling. "Did he dance with you like this?"

"We were not like that," said Eric.

"Never?"

"Margaret."

"Never, ever?"

"I am not going to answer again," Eric said, grinning cheekily. The song ended, and he pulled her close, stopping the dance.

"Eric?"

"Yes, dear?"

"Something Andre said last night…"

"Which something?"

"About you wanting to keep me for a long time."

"Oh you caught that, did you?"

"Did you ask for permission from Sophie-Anne to turn me?"

Eric's mouth set in a hard line and his blue eyes held a dangerous gleam. "Yes."

Peggy drew in a deep breath. She let go of him, sucking in a huge gasp of air, nearly dizzy with this information. She pitched forward, taking a few quick steps to the railing, looking down at the dark, swirling water. She was filled with a huge rush of mixed emotions. Did she want to be a vampire? Had Godric wanted to turn her, she would never have thought twice about it.

"Eric—"

"She said no, Margaret," Eric said. He was barely holding back how furious he was. "I asked her weeks ago. She told Godric no about you, and she told me no as well."

"When do you ever do as you're told?" Peggy demanded.

Eric laughed bitterly. "I cannot disobey her in this. It would be forfeiting my life."

Peggy felt a bitter surge of disappointment. "Why? Why does she care? What threat am I to her? What threat is your happiness to her?"

He moved to her and drew her against him so quickly that she didn't see him move. "It is just her way of controlling me," he said softly. She knew how angry he was. He was not used to feeling anything but in charge.

"Did she have something to do with electing you king of this Mardi Gras krewe?"

"She says not, but I do not know," said Eric. "Don't worry – I will take every precaution. I know that someone is playing a game with me and I intend to find out who and why."

He petted her hair and she rested her head against his chest. "Why did you talk about turning me… marrying me… when you knew you couldn't?"

"Because I wanted to know what you thought."

"Wouldn't it have been less cruel just to ask me?"

Eric looked confused. Peggy sighed. Sometimes he really was, well, an ancient Viking. She smiled at him, letting him know all was well. She didn't want to fight with him, or be angry with him.

"I will petition for permission again," Eric said with a determined set to his jaw.

"As you told me yesterday…we have time," Peggy said. She leaned up and kissed his mouth very softly. "Let's go in to the dining room. I'm hungry."

Eric kissed her back a little bit fiercely. "So am I, Margaret," he murmured. "So am I."


	20. Chapter 20

Sam didn't like Gregory Marstock one bit, and it had nothing to do with him being a vampire. The smarmy Southerner had joined Sam, Anne Marie, Bill and Sookie at their dining table aboard the riverboat. Bill had apparently met him the night before and although the Bon Temps vampire was not exactly Sam's best friend, he respected Bill's opinion, and even though he put on a polite face, he clearly showed an aversion to Marstock.

"I am your gracious host," Marstock said none-too-modestly. "And I am so…glad… Eric brought his little group of friends aboard my riverboat. I'll have the bar comp all your beverages."  
"Thank you," Bill said stiffly.

"And where is Mr. Northman?"

"Somewhere on the boat," said Bill. Marstock looked aggrieved, and Sam half-hoped he would jump up and run off in search of Eric. He didn't, so Sam worked on his dinner. Soon the jazz band struck up. They were very talented, and Sam enjoyed the music while he ate.

Although Marstock "welcomed" all of them, he directed most of his conversation at Bill, the only vampire present. Most of his conversation turned out to be a long, rambling monologue about the riverboat, as well. While at first it was interesting, Sam eventually started to tune him out, instead concentrating on his praline chicken.

"This is pretty good," he said to Anne Marie.

She nodded, looking distracted. Come to think of it, she'd been distracted all day. Sam knew her brother was on her mind.

"Can you make this?" Sam asked.

"Yep," she said.

"Sookie, you think we can sell this at Merlotte's?"

Sookie tilted her head. "Might be too fancy. But people in Bon Temps will eat anything Anne Marie makes, now."

Sam took another bite. Saw Marstock glance at him, and lifted his eyebrows in an "interested and hanging on your every word" expression. Marstock seemed satisfied and continued regaling Bill with a story about Mark Twain. Sam almost felt bad for Bill.

He looked around the large room, where the jazz band was playing at one end, and the buffet was presented at the other. A bar took up most of one of the side walls. In between were tables for the diners. Lots of windows looked out on the Mississippi and the outer areas of the boat.

Waitresses came from the bar to deliver bottles of True Blood to the vampires – apparently they weren't required to get up for their food, unlike the humans. Sam noticed that there were a fair number of vampires on the riverboat and he wondered if they all lived here in New Orleans or if some of them were just in town for Mardi Gras.

Over near the bar, a handsome young man attracted Sam's attention. He was human, nicely dressed, and had wavy dark hair. Sam wasn't sure what it was about the young man that had attracted his attention, but there was something vaguely familiar about him. Where did Sam know him from? He just couldn't place him… The young man looked over at their table and saw Sam staring. He frowned, then looked quickly away. Sam looked back down at his food, but when he dared take another glance, the young man was still there, staring at their table again.

It took Sam a few seconds to realize that someone was talking to him. His cheeks heating up, Sam dragged himself back to the conversation at the table.

"What's that?" he asked in a cheerful tone, trying to make it seem as if his food was SO GOOD that he couldn't pay attention to the conversation. Marstock turned his head in the direction that Sam had been looking and his expression darkened as he saw the young man.

"You all enjoy yourselves," said Marstock abruptly, then he got up from their table and headed to the bar.

Sam still had no idea who had spoken to him. He looked around the table. Bill looked relieved and was sipping his True Blood. Sookie had started on her bread pudding. Anne Marie was just stirring her food around on her plate, staring out the window.

A moment later, Eric and Peggy came in from outside, looking at each other with such affection that Sam would have been touched if he were not so wary of Eric. Sam could tell something deep and intimate had passed between them. He looked over at Anne Marie, but she was still somewhere else, barely registering that the two of them had joined their table. Eric sat and pulled Peggy down on his lap.

"Bill, go get Peggy a plate of food," Eric said.

"I am not Pam, Eric," Bill snapped.

"I can get my own food," Peggy said quickly, looking nervously at Bill.

Eric rolled his eyes. "But I want to keep you on my lap."

"You can't just order Bill around, Eric," said Sookie.

"You jes King of a Mardi Gras krewe, not a real king," Anne Marie put in, her green eyes sparkling. Uniting with Sookie and Bill against Eric's bad manners had brought her back to the present.

Before the discussion could go any further, one of the waitresses serving the vampires arrived with a plate for Peggy. She smiled warmly, and looked at both Bill and Eric with the devotion of a fangbanger.

"I brought you a little of each, honey," she told Peggy warmly.

"Oh thank you. You didn't have to…"

"Oh, but I did. Master Gregory's orders. You're his special guests," she gushed. Eric smirked and gave her a huge tip, which she took graciously, though she looked as if she would have preferred something else from him. "He is also sending you a round of drinks," she added, not taking her eyes off of Eric. "Special. I'll have them right over." The waitress sashayed off, swaying her hips to best advantage to be seen by Bill and Eric. Sam was only glad to see Eric tip her well (as he believed all waitresses should be tipped well) and not express any interest in her other charms.

"Eric," said Sam, "Do you know that kid talking to Marstock?"

"What kid?"

Sam looked over to the bar, but both Marstock and the dark-haired young man had disappeared. Sam shrugged. "Never mind."

A moment later, the fangbanger waitress was giving him and the ladies a strong cup of rum punch as well as glasses of something thick and red to Bill and Eric. Eric tasted his, then grinned. His fangs sprung out almost instantly.

"Can you not do that?" asked Sookie. "It's kind of scary, Eric."

"Try the drink, Bill," said Eric.

Rather than argue with Eric about being ordered around again, Bill tasted the drink. He took a small sip, then a longer one, and when he put the glass down he had a red moustache, a goofy smile, and prominent fangs.

"Bill!" Sookie handed him a napkin. Bill looked at it as if he had no idea what it was for.

"Tastes just like Santiago's House Special, doesn't it, Bill?" Eric asked softly.

"The alcoholic blood?" Sam asked with alarm. "Maybe you shouldn't drink it." But before he finished the sentence, Eric had an empty glass and his eyes were crossed.

Bill made a sound that wanted to be a chuckle but was more like a giggle. "I think, Eric, that this may be stronger."

"Then maybe you better not," said Sookie, reaching for Bill's glass, but before she could touch it, it was empty.

Sam blinked. "What the—" But then Bill and Eric were laughing, and Sam realized that Bill had finished the drink at vampire speed.

"We need another round of these," Eric said. He stood up and waved at the waitress. Peggy fell off of his lap. Bill cracked up over this, but Eric helped Peggy to her feet.

"Drunk vampires…" she muttered.

"Dis night jes get better n' better," said Anne Marie. "How long til we get back to dock, Sam?"

"Ten, fifteen minutes, I think," Sam said.

"Do you know how many drinks we could drink in fifteen minutes?" Eric said to Bill. "I drained a whole village in less time than that, once."

"Eric!" said Sookie.

"Well… it was a small village."

Bill couldn't seem to stop laughing. Peggy just moved into her own chair and calmly ate her dinner while the waitress brought them another round.

"Bill Compton, don't you dare!" said Sookie.

"Aw, c'mon, Sookie," Bill said. "Just one more, then I promise I'll stop."

"I have served more alcoholics than I care to count, and I have heard that line before," Sookie said sharply.

"It wears off fast," Bill said. His fangs retracted and he took Sookie's hand in his.

"Bill, I command you to drink with me!" Eric said, waving his hand grandly. Sam had to duck to avoid being accidentally smacked in the face.

"Eric!" Sookie snapped.

It was a very long ten minutes. Eric and Bill went from extremely drunk back to sober in a remarkably fast amount of time. The boat began to dock and to Sam's relief the bar closed.

"That wasn't as strong as what we had at Bloody Mary's, after all," Bill remarked as they disembarked. By now Sookie was giving him the cold shoulder, and Eric both cold shoulders.

"No," Eric agreed, "It seems like he copied Santiago's recipe and failed."

"Dat Marstock steal from Christopher," Anne Marie said. "I don' like that."

"Have you made up with your vampire lover, then?" Eric asked, smirking at her. Sam grabbed her fist to stop her from punching the obnoxious Viking.

They all started down the gangplank back towards shore. If Sam and Anne Marie hadn't been in front of Eric, they might never have seen Pam standing on the dock. Her blond hair was a mess, and she was wearing at least two dozen strands of Mardi Gras beads. She called loudly to them in Swedish. Sam didn't understand the words, but he knew the tone well enough. Pam was clearly and obviously drunk.

"Here we go again," Sam muttered.


	21. Chapter 21

Peggy clutched at Eric's arm when she saw the state that Pam was in. She had never, ever seen the female vampire looking anything less than a hundred percent put together. Pam's blonde hair was sticking up every which way and her make-up was smeared. Her blouse was no longer tucked into her skirt, leading Peggy to wonder about how Pam had acquired her Mardi Gras beads. She was clutching a red plastic go-cup in her hand that sported a bendy straw and a Bloody Mary's logo.

Eric chuckled. "I need a camera. Bill, does your phone have one?" Silently, Bill handed over his phone. Eric snapped a photo of Pam, then handed the phone back, still chuckling.

"Eric, she could be dangerous like that," Sookie said, sounding urgent.

"She is always dangerous," Eric said.

"She will be even more dangerous if you show anyone that photo," Peggy said.

When they reached the bottom of the ramp, Pam elbowed the shifters and Peggy aside, threw her arms around Eric's neck and kissed him on the mouth. Peggy just shook her head. It would do no good to be angry or jealous just now, she knew. It was a good thing that she herself was mostly sober. She had a slight buzz from the rum drink she'd had on the boat, but before that they had gone to see Sophie-Anne and she had needed to be fully aware.

Eric disentangled himself from Pam, wearing something between a wide smile and a smirk. "Someone has been having a good time."

"That Christopher Santiago certainly knows how to show a lady a good time," said Pam, then burst into a fit of giggles.

Peggy and Anne Marie exchanged a glance. While they both knew that Pam spoke the truth, Christopher's interest in Pam could not be construed as anything good. Especially if Anne Marie's brother Simone was in love with him.

"Is that a bite mark on your neck, Pam?" asked Bill.

"You should see the one on my thigh," Pam drawled, and reached down as if she might pull up her skirt. With a lightning fast grip on her wrist, Eric stopped her.

"You were foolish to let him bite you, Pam," he said harshly, all of his amusement gone. He tilted her head to examine the mark, which was already mostly healed. Pam took another slurp from her bendy straw. Her eyes glowed, her fangs popped out, and the wound healed the rest of the way almost simultaneously.

"Maybe we should go back to the hotel," Sookie suggested.

"I think instead we ought to go see Mr. Santiago," Eric growled. He pulled Pam's cup out of her hand and gave it to Bill. Bill sucked at the straw, but the look of disappointment on his face suggested that the cup was empty. Sookie snatched the cup from Bill and marched it to the nearest trash can.

"Well, if you're going back to Bloody Mary's, I think me and Anne Marie will head in another direction," Sam said. He seemed to be watching the people disembarking from the steamboat, as if he were looking for someone.

"Naw Sam, we go wid dem, us," Anne Marie said firmly. "I got to talk to Santiago…"

"And I need another drink!" said Pam.

"I could use one, myself," said Eric. He put one arm around Pam, mostly to steady her, and the other around Peggy. "Bill? Sookie? Will you be joining us?"

"No," said Sookie.

Bill sighed. "If you don't mind, Eric, I think we will pass."

"Suit yourself!" Eric began steering them off down the street.

"Wait…wait a minute," said Sam, but Eric didn't stop. A moment later, Sam and Anne Marie caught up.

"What are you barking about, shifter?" Pam demanded over her shoulder.

"I have to know where I know that guy from," Sam muttered, not reacting to the insult or Pam's tone.

"What guy, cher?" asked Anne Marie.

"I saw him on the boat—"

"Obviously," said Eric.

"—talking to Marstock."

Eric arched an eyebrow. Peggy knew he was wondering if they should have listened to Sam after all, but it was too late now and he certainly wasn't going to admit that.

"We ain' been so many places since we bin here," said Anne Marie. "I'm sure you think of it."

Sam nodded, still looking distracted.

Bloody Mary's was only a few streets over from the riverboat dock, and Peggy was glad of the fact, since Eric was having a hard time keeping Pam in line. They were zigzagging all over the sidewalk and she kept flashing her fangs at passers-by. Peggy was just glad she wasn't flashing anything else.

There was a new human door hostess at the club who had replaced Lady Pickle Divine. She was African-American and wearing a sleeveless red sequin gown that showed off some very well-developed arm muscles.

"For a second I thought that was Lafayette," Sam muttered. Anne Marie chuckled in response.

"Miss Pam!" the door hostess squealed, tottering over on her heels to give Pam a hug, which oddly enough, she returned. "I'm so glad you're back. Let me just summon the master, and he'll get you a table. The midnight show's nearly over, but we have another one at two!"

"Miss Tatatiana!" Pam drawled enthusiastically, hugging the hostess back.

"You call me Tata," she said, shimmying her shoulders a little and winking a long-false-lashed eye. She reached inside the doorway and pushed a little button, and a moment later Christopher appeared.

He was dressed as usual in his full evening attire, including top hat and cape. Peggy tried to recall if she had ever seen him in something casual and decided she hadn't. She wondered if Anne Marie had, but this wasn't the time to ask.

"My friends," he said, spreading his arms in welcome. He lifted the top hat to Eric, who nodded back to him. "Pam, my darling, how glad I am that you returned. Please, don't bite my hostess. Tata needs her strength – she's working the door until dawn. Come, let me get you a table."

"Perhaps it would be better if we spoke in private," Eric said shortly as Pam let go of the hostess.

"Oh?" Christopher tilted his head. "Does this have something to do with the fact that you have just returned from a trip on my dear friend Greg Marstock's little tugboat?"

"It have ever'ting to do wid dat," said Anne Marie. "And I got other stuff to talk wid you about, me."

"I hope you aren't looking for Simone tonight, cherie," said Christopher. "She had the evening off so she took Kinkerbelle shopping. I hope at least one of them comes back alive. Oh, wait. I hope Kicksy comes back alive. A bit…too late…for Simone, isn't it?" He laughed loudly, and although Eric's lips twisted in what could barely be called a smile, no one else laughed with him.

Peggy felt somewhat disappointed. She knew that Christopher loved to play games, but he was being deliberately cruel to Anne Marie and it was hard for her to bear for several reasons, not the least of which was that Anne Marie was her friend. Of course, Eric often did the same, but he had never professed to love the Cajun woman.

Christopher stopped laughing and looked around at the four somber faces… and Pam, who seemed to be lost on her own planet. She was coming down off of her high, Peggy realized. She had begun to see the danger in vampires getting drunk, she realized as she felt some relief. Of course, no sooner were they in the club when Christopher was pressing drinks on them again.

"Thank you, no," Eric said. "At least…not yet. We need to talk before we indulge."

"I need to sit down," said Pam. "I feel…strange."

"Hangover, darling?" asked Christopher.

"I have never experienced a hangover before," said Pam. "If this is what it feels like, I will never drink one of your House Specials again."

"I've heard that before," Sam muttered.

"Santiago," said Eric as Christopher led them into a plush office in the back of the club, "Have you marketed your creation?"

"No," said Christopher. "I am waiting for some various approvals and so on from the Queen. Though she enjoys it herself, she doesn't seem to be in a hurry to let me bottle it… so it is only served in my club, and only to those on an approved list which Andre e-mails me every week."

Christopher sounded extremely bitter. Peggy understood how he felt. Thanks to the queen, neither Eric nor Godric had been allowed to make her a vampire. Of course, she thought sadly, Godric could have done it once they were in Texas, and why he hadn't, or if the King of Texas had refused him, she would never be able to know.

"Hm," said Eric, "So you only sell it here. Then, how did Marstock come to be serving a similar beverage on his… tugboat?"


	22. Chapter 22

The look on Christopher Santiago's face when Eric told him that Marstock had bootlegged his blood-alcohol beverage amused Sam a great deal, but the amusement died when Santiago's expression turned murderous.

The dark-haired vampire's eyes blazed red. Sam saw Peggy press back closer to Eric. Pam, recovering from her hangover, arched an eyebrow boldly. Only Anne Marie stood unmoved, as if this bloody look drew no fear from her.

"Pardon me, Eric," said Santiago, "May I just…clarify?"

"Of course," Eric said gallantly.

"What you are telling me… is that… while you were on Gregory Marstock's little…"

"Tugboat," Eric supplied helpfully.

"Yes. On his boat, he served you a beverage similar to my House Special…?"

"Yes," said Eric, "That is exactly what I am telling you. Very interesting, isn't it?"

Santiago nodded. "VERY," he said from behind ground teeth.

"Dat Marstock steal you recipe," said Anne Marie.

"Thank you, Miss Boudreaux, for pointing that out," Santiago said in a clipped tone. Anne Marie chuckled, which surprised Sam. Santiago looked at Eric again. "Are you certain?"

"I tasted it myself."

"The effects didn't seem to last as long as yours," Peggy pointed out. Santiago nodded at her.

"Right. Then it is likely that someone, rather than having a copy of my recipe, tried to recreate it."

"That someone being Marstock," Eric said.

"Marstock," said Santiago, "Who will now be riding on the Mardi Gras float in my place, thanks to a murder that took place in my club while Marstock, conveniently, was here."

"Did he kill Lady Pickle?" Sam asked.

Santiago seemed to consider the idea. "I would love to prove that," he said.

"Christopher… I'm sorry, he didn't," Peggy said softly.

Santiago arched an eyebrow at Peggy. "And how can you be sure of this, cherie?"

"He was trying to pick her up at the time of the murder," Pam said, without looking up. She had her forehead in her hand and looked to be in pain.

Peggy nodded sadly. "It's true."

"I could kill him just for that," Eric suggested cheerfully.

"I would get my place on the float back if you did," Christopher said, beaming at Eric wickedly.

"Sophie-Anne would not like it, Eric," Pam muttered.

"Surely—" Santiago began but Eric interrupted him.

"No, she's right. Sophie-Anne would be angry with me if I killed Marstock just for flirting with Margaret," he said.

"If she is angry with you and Marstock is dead, maybe I would be named King of the Krewe of Ancients," said Santiago. Everyone glared at him and he smiled in a self-deprecating, sheepish manner. "As if any vampire would think differently."

"You wouldn', you," said Anne Marie.

"No, and you wouldn't love me if I did," said Santiago.

"I DON' love you."

"Come now, cherie… I know your heart hasn't forgotten me," he said in a seductive tone.

Sam felt a growl escape his throat. "She's my girl now, Santiago," he said gruffly. "And don't forget that you're supposed to be with her brother."

"Nothing like keeping it in the family," said Eric, gloating slightly.

"You would approve, wouldn't you, Northman?" said Santiago, "After all, that's what you and Godric have done with pretty Margaret."

"Are you trying to make all of us want to kill you?" Peggy asked Santiago with some exasperation.

Christopher held up his hands in submission. "All right, all right. Forgive my words, all of you lot. I realize I owe you a debt for letting me know that my drink recipe has been stolen, or at least duplicated poorly. I have no quarrel with any of you."

"You just love to quarrel," said Peggy.

"I do," said Santiago, taking her hand and kissing it, but letting go abruptly as Eric glared at him. "And I promise all of you that I never leave my debts unpaid."

"Good to know," said Eric.

"You need our help," Peggy said. Sam wondered what the hell she meant, but apparently so did Santiago.

"How so?" he asked.

"We have to help you find the murderer… and provide evidence against Marstock on your behalf."

"Sookie," said Eric softly. Peggy nodded.

"No," said Sam. "Leave her out of this."

"She can help, Sam," said Peggy, turning towards him with an impassioned expression.

"She won't want to be dragged into this," Sam warned, shaking his head.

"Sookie?" asked Santiago, "The little crumpet with Bill Compton? How can she help?"

"She has—" Eric began, but Sam interrupted him.

"No, Eric," Sam said. "Don't you dare."

Santiago looked from Peggy to Eric to Sam and back. "Well, you know you are all just making me crazy with suspense," he said dramatically. "Pam, I don't suppose you'll tell me what all the fuss is."  
"Not now," Pam grumbled. She was leaning against the wall, looking as if she were in great pain. Christopher pushed a button near the light switch on the wall and within less than a minute a waitress appeared with a bottle of True Blood. Santiago gestured to Pam and it was delivered properly. Pam drank it silently. Sam wondered how it would cure her headache.

"Sookie may be able to help solve the mystery… she's a detective of sorts," Peggy said softly and Sam had to give her credit for not betraying her friend and digging all of them out of this hole. "But we have to ask her to help. She doesn't like to be forced."

"I can pay her," Santiago said.

"She does like money," Eric said thoughtfully.

"You don' understan' humans at all, you," Anne Marie said, shaking her head.

"What would you know about humans?" Eric asked. "You are not human either."

"We ARE human, Eric," said Sam. "We just have an additional…ability."

Eric rolled his eyes. "Next you will say that I am human, too."

"Trust me, I will never say that," Sam grumbled.

"Right then," said Santiago. "Can you get Miss Stackhouse back here tonight?"

"No," said Anne Marie and Sam together.

"It's not likely," Peggy said a little more gently. "We will ask her to come tomorrow. I will call you."

"Or, I will call you," said Eric, looking at Peggy. Peggy looked at Eric with exasperation, but she didn't argue with him.

"Thank you," said Santiago but he didn't sound all that thankful. More like snippy.

"Eric," said Pam sharply, "Can we leave?"

Eric sighed dramatically. "Maybe you should have another drink instead."

"I would rather not," said Pam.

"Let's go back to the hotel, Eric," Peggy said softly. Eric nodded.

"I got a few more tings to say to you, me," said Anne Marie, looking at Santiago. "Y'all go on ahead."

"I'm staying with you," said Sam.

"Course," said Anne Marie.

"Then, I shall bid you and your lovely company a good night, Mr. Northman," said Santiago, bowing to Eric with a flourish of his cape. "Shall I have someone show you out?"

"We can find the way," said Eric. He gathered up Pam and Peggy and left.

Sam felt slightly nervous now that they had no vampire protection from Christopher Santiago. They were in his club, at his mercy. Not that he expected that Eric and Pam would protect him, really, but the devil he knew was better than the one he didn't.

And then again, Anne Marie knew this devil, this Santiago. Whether Sam liked it or not, something had happened between them, and that bond was all they had to keep them safe.

Once the three of them were alone, Santiago called for drinks again. He took a True Blood for himself (Sam was glad to see it wasn't the House Special) and offered rum drinks to the two shifters. Anne Marie sipped her, but Sam only toyed with his.

"You love my brother, Santiago?" she asked once they were alone.

Santiago looked surprised. "Is that what you came to ask me, Anne Marie?"

"Yes," said Anne Marie. "Dat exactly why I am here, me. I want to know, do you love my brother?"

"I made him vampire," Santiago said. "We have an eternal bond. Now what does that tell you?"

"Tell me you shameless," said Anne Marie. "Now answer de question."

Santiago inclined his head slightly. He smiled slowly, as if he were drawing out the moment as long as possible before he gave the answer.


	23. Chapter 23

It was just three a.m. when Eric and Peggy deposited Pam in her coffin at the Prince Conti hotel. Peggy probably had more sympathy for allowing Pam the bed this time, but she said nothing as the hungover blonde vampire stripped off her clothing, tossed it on the floor, and climbed into the coffin, banging the lid shut, then moaning in pain at the loud sound. Eric looked terribly amused, and since he did not move to do so, Peggy began hanging up Pam's things.

"I wonder where Bill and Sookie are," Peggy said when she had finished. Eric shrugged.

"Does it matter?" he asked softly, gliding towards Peggy with a distinctly predatory look. "We are alone at last…"

Eric pulled her into his embrace and she gasped, her arms winding around his tall, hard body almost of their own accord. He kissed her, his lips cool, but his passion intense, devouring her mouth, making her helpless with desire.

"We're not alone, Eric," she whispered breathlessly.

"Yes, and I know what you're doing," Pam said from inside the coffin.

Eric cursed softly in Swedish. "Go to sleep, Pam."

"I will, at dawn."

Peggy clung to Eric. "Maybe nobody's in our room yet."

Eric grabbed her hand and they flew out of the room, down the hall to the room Peggy was sharing with Sookie and the shifters. Eric kicked the door, and it banged open. A commotion issued immediately.

"Sorry, Sookie," said Peggy, pushing Eric backwards gently and closing the door. Eric growled and punched the wall in the hallway, leaving a dent.

"That is a view of Bill Compton I had never hoped to see," he said. "Also, I am remarkably horny."

Peggy giggled. She had never heard Eric use the word "horny" before. She might have laughed harder if she hadn't felt just as disturbed herself. They had never been denied before, not in the entire time they had been together. She tried to think of other options, but there wasn't a hotel room to be had in New Orleans and the various stairwells and common areas of this one were too dirty to contemplate.

"Alas, my love, we are out of luck," she said.

"We should have stayed at Bloody Mary's," Eric said. "At least alcohol seems to diminish the sexual urge." He leaned against the wall and dragged his hand through his blond hair, causing it to stick up at odd angles… which unfortunately just made him all the more attractive.

"You really liked Christopher's…invention, didn't you?" Peggy said. She leaned against the wall next to Eric. He put an arm around her and cuddled her against him and they both pretended that they couldn't hear Sookie and Bill through the thin wall.

"It's clever," said Eric. "I could certainly make a lot of money if I sold it at Fangtasia."

"Is the money worth the danger of drunk vampires?"

Eric shrugged. "I am still considering. Do you think Christopher would allow me to sell it?"

"Well… I don't doubt that he would let you sell it if the Queen allowed him to bottle it. I don't know if he would be willing to sell you the recipe."

"I could duplicate it the way Marstock has."

"You wouldn't do that."

"You think not?"

"I know you better than that, Eric."

Eric was silent for a long moment, but he smiled. "The Queen won't ever allow him to bottle it."

"Why not?"

"Far too dangerous. In fact, I think Santiago is putting his own existence in danger by permitting anyone to imbibe that elixir. If he was wise, he would destroy it."

Peggy's eyes widened, and she felt her heart tremble at the thought of Christopher being hurt. "I can't allow that!"

Eric turned and looked into her eyes. He put his hand gently on her cheek, and Peggy was grateful that he didn't laugh at her. "You could not stop it."

"Then you have to help me!"

"You care for him deeply," Eric said, but there was no jealousy in his voice. It almost seemed he was proud of her.

"I know he seems like a… a bastard," Peggy said, "But he really is good deep inside."

"Good?" Eric arched an eyebrow. "He is a vampire."

"So are you."

"And you think I'm good?"

"I know you are, Eric."

This time, he did laugh, but it was self-deprecating. "You honestly believe that," he said. Then he sighed. "Well, Margaret mine, if anyone can draw out whatever good might remain inside of me, it is you."

"Will you help Christopher? I have a feeling he's in trouble." Peggy bit her lower lip. Eric tilted his head slightly and considered.

"Who is going to help me? I have a feeling I'm in trouble."

Peggy felt a moment's panic and Eric pulled her up against him as he sensed it, cuddling her and stroking her hair. "Eric—"

"Shh, my darling. We're still ahead of the game, since we know there is one being played. We just don't know who the players are."

"The queen?"

"Likely," said Eric.

"And Marstock?"

"Definitely."

"Have you met him before?"

"No."

"So what could he possibly want from you?"

Eric considered. "He is jealous of me. He wants to be king of this Mardi Gras krewe."

"Maybe you should just let him be, and we can go back to Bon Temps. Why court danger for an honor that means nothing to you?" Peggy asked.

"The queen will not let me back out," Eric insisted.

"If you just asked her—"

"She would take it as a sign of weakness, and perhaps reconsider my position as Sheriff of Area Five."

Peggy frowned. "Do you think that is what Marstock is after? Your…Sheriff-hood?"

"Maybe."

"But he lives here, his riverboat company is here."

"For that kind of power, I have no doubt he would be willing to relocate."

"So perhaps Sophie-Anne is attempting to replace you?"

Eric's forehead creased as he thought about it. "I think she would just simply replace me if she wanted to. She does not need to play these games. She's up to something – but not this. I want to place this on Marstock's shoulders. He has already replaced your friend Santiago on my parade float, and he will try to replace me next. We must be vigilant and prevent that from happening."

"We will, of course," said Peggy.

"I will have to keep Bill and Pam close at all times if I can," Eric said. He laughed as he considered where each of them were. "Easier said than done."

"Tonight is almost over. Surely you will be all right for the rest of tonight." Peggy leaned up and kissed his mouth softly. He kissed her back, gentle at first, but it took only moments for him to have her pinned against the wall, moaning with desire.

"Argh, we have to stop," Eric panted. Peggy could feel his excitement through his pants, nearly invading her through both of their clothes. "I am half ready to ask Sophie-Anne to lend us a room."

"Do you think she would?"

"Yes, but the price would be too high."

They let go of each other and took a tentative step apart. It lasted only a second before they were making love to each other's lips again, mouths entwined the way their bodies could not. Peggy could feel Eric's fangs grazing her lips…then her throat.

"Just a little taste," Eric whispered against her skin.

"No, Eric, you can't," Peggy said, her voice hitching. "Public biting is illegal. You could be arrested if someone saw and was offended."

His mouth stilled. She knew Eric had a thousand years of self-control, and she only hoped for both of their sakes that he could call upon it now. Part of her remembered Godric. He would never have come as close to ravishing her somewhere they could be caught as Eric was now. Then again, when they had played in New Orleans together, no one had believed in vampires, and if he tasted her in public, no one who saw would ever have imagined what he was really doing.

Eric slowly let go of her and straightened up. His hands fell away from her and he took a step backwards. His lips were still parted slightly and his fangs extended. She wanted him as badly as he wanted her, but she knew they had to wait.

"Can I sleep in your arms tonight, Eric?" she whimpered.

"Only if you want Bill and Pam to see me take you," Eric said. "Because if you and I were anywhere near a bed right now, I would not care who was watching."

Peggy considered it for a very long moment.


	24. Chapter 24

Sam was quite pleasantly awakened by the swirl of a tongue around the outside of his ear, followed by a nip at the lobe. He groaned, rolled over, seeking the warmth of his lover. Anne Marie snuggled against him and whispered his name. He felt a distinct ache and throb in his nether regions. Her hand slipped down low and fondled him and he groaned again, louder, more urgent.

A giggle that did not belong to Anne Marie stilled him. He remembered then that they were sharing the room with Peggy and Sookie. They were not going to get to make love, and he did not want to get out of bed displaying his desire. He grabbed her wrist, stilling her hand.

"Get up, Sam."

"I am up, Anne Marie."

She licked his ear again. "Out of bed. We havin' brunch at my brother Nicolas' restaurant."

Sam opened his eyes and saw a sparkling pair of green peepers staring back at him. He immediately felt glorious, and nearly overwhelmed with love. She kissed him very softly, not allowing him to kiss her back before she pulled away, and the love he felt for this amazing woman pulsed through him.

"How are you?" he whispered.

She tilted her head slightly, looked thoughtful. "M'fine."

"Really?"

"Yes, Sam. Now, outta bed, or we gone be late."

An hour later they were walking into Begue's in the lobby of the Royal Sonesta hotel. It was a very warm morning for February, and Anne Marie, Peggy, and Sookie had all opted for sun dresses with light wraps. Each lady wore a different color and they were all so beautiful that once again, Sam felt like a king. He knew he was the envy of every other man in the restaurant. They were seated in a large booth, and within moments they all had mimosas.

Sam lifted his glass, wanting to propose a toast, but before he could, a young man in a chef's uniform joined them at the table. He had a glass in his hand and lifted it.

"To Anne Marie."

"To Anne Marie!" Sam echoed, and they drank, and Sam got up to shake his hand. "You must be Nicolas. I'm Sam Merlotte."

Nicolas beamed at him warmly. He had green eyes and was about the same height as Sam. His red hair curled around his ears and he bore a resemblance to Anne Marie and her other brothers though there was something more pleasant about him. He had round cheeks and a look of passion to him. Unlike Simone, Nicolas was very masculine looking, and unlike the other Boudreaux brothers, he looked nothing like a dangerous red-neck.

"You de one make Anne Marie so happy," Nicolas said. "You and your friends ver' welcome here." Anne Marie jumped up and hugged him and he hugged her back. "Oh, lil sister, it been too long."

"I know, I know," Anne Marie said. She let go of Nicolas. "Dis Peggy Hunter an' dis Sookie Stackhouse. My bes' frens."

Peggy and Sookie both beamed as they shook hands with Nicolas, who greeted them both kindly.

"Get up now, get up, ladies – brunch at Begue's is a buffet. Come now, I give you de tour."

Anne Marie grabbed Sam's hand and linked her other arm through Nicolas' as he gave them a tour of the buffet. There were towers of pastries, an omelette station, every breakfast item imaginable, and fresh salads for lunch as well as New Orleans favorites like boiled crawfish, jambalaya, and etouffée. Nicolas picked up various items here and there and offered them all small tastes, small bites. Everything Sam tried was delicious. There had been a lot of good food on this trip, but this was the best so far.

For a moment, Sam felt bad for the vampires. They could no longer eat, and eating was one of the pleasures of life. He looked at Peggy and wondered if she was going to wind up as a vampire, wind up giving all this up. For that matter, he supposed Sookie might meet that fate as well. Surely if Bill wanted to marry her, he wouldn't want her to grow old without him…

Sam shook his head and drew himself back to the present, back to what Nicolas was saying. He glanced at Anne Marie and knew he was the luckiest man in the whole world.

"I know dis look good and you all tempted to grab a plate," Nicolas was saying, "But I'm gone bring y'all sumtin' special to de table." He escorted them back to their booth. "Enjoy de champagne and jes wait. After, you taste ever'ting else."

"Good thing I'm hungry," Sookie said with wide eyes.

"Good thing I'm thirsty," Peggy said, grinning and helping herself to a mimosa.

Sam looked at Peggy for a long moment and saw the shadows under her eyes. She was worried about Eric, he knew, and with good cause. Something was going on with the vampires of New Orleans, something that Eric was right in the middle of, whether he knew it or not. Normally Sam wouldn't have cared, but if Eric was involved, so was Peggy, and she was Sam's friend no matter what he thought of the Viking.

Christopher Santiago was involved as well, Sam thought as he drained his glass, which meant Anne Marie's brother Simone was involved as well. He wondered what Nicolas thought of Simone being a vampire, and if there would be an opportunity to discuss it with him.

Before Sam could consider it much further, Nicolas and a bevy of his staff were serving them Eggs Sardou, very much like Eggs Benedict but served on an artichoke, with spinach. There were also hot, crunchy potatoes with bacon, peppers, and Cajun spices and freshly baked biscuits with whipped butter. Sam was in heaven.

"Nicolas, you and Anne Marie share the gift of fine cooking," Sam said as the chef waited for them to taste the ambrosial delights he offered.

"Thank you," said Nicolas, beaming with pride. "I trust she doin' you proud. I know she cook for you now."

Sam nodded. "Business has almost doubled," he said.

"Course it has," said Anne Marie, grinning.

"I can barely keep up with tables when she's on," said Sookie. "I love it."

"We all make more money," said Sam.

"But more than that – you all enjoy working together," said Peggy. For a moment she looked wistful. "Sam, I'm sorry I never worked out as a waitress."

Sam smiled at her. "Well, you tried your best." But he knew Peggy had only tried to be a waitress since Eric had wanted something from him. After that hadn't worked out, and after owing Sam more than she made in broken dishes, Peggy had quit.

"Are you going to get another job?" Sookie asked Peggy.

"She don' have to work," said Anne Marie. "Lucky."

Sam knew that Godric, Peggy's old lover who had also been a vampire and some sort of…relative…of Eric's, had left her a large amount of money.

"Don't you get bored?"  
"Eric keeps me busy," said Peggy.

"But when he's busy? Surely hanging around Fangtasia all night isn't that much fun," said Sookie.

Nicolas looked from Sookie to Peggy then back to Anne Marie. "You ladies watch out for dem vampires," he said softly. "Nothin' but trouble."

Anne Marie grabbed Nicolas' hand. "Nicky," she said, "I tink Simone happy, him."

Nicolas looked wary. "We ain' spoke much since he turned."

"Dat got to change," said Anne Marie. "Family got to stick together."

"Not when one dem dead."

"Pearletta a vampire too, now, Nicky," Anne Marie said.

"She you bes' fren growin' up," said Nicolas. Automatically he refilled everyone's champagne glasses and Sam had a feeling this would be another day spent drunk. He drained his glass, not caring. Maybe he ought to stay sober and be careful and protect everyone from the vampires… but they were overwhelmed here. He felt that nothing he did would make a difference so he ought to just go ahead and have a good time.

Or at the very least…well, he could sober up after dark.

"I'm not gone abandon Pearletta, me, so you not abandon Simone," Anne Marie told Nicolas sternly. She lifted her glass towards her brother and he filled it up. Nicolas left the bottle on the table. He kissed Anne Marie on the forehead, nodded to the rest of them, then disappeared back to his kitchen where he was needed.

Anne Marie sighed, then she looked at Sookie. "Sook…"

Sookie nodded. "He loves you. And he still loves Simone, though he isn't too fond of Christopher Santiago."

Anne Marie looked relieved. "So…he ain'…"

"He's not plotting anything. And he's never even been to Bloody Mary's, though he's curious. I think you should take him there to see the ABBA show," Sookie said firmly.

Sam looked at Sookie. "Did you two plan this?"

"Only a little," said Anne Marie.

"And I am going to help Christopher Santiago. I'm going to question his waitresses and try to find out what happened to Lady Pickle Divine," said Sookie.

"Sookie, that's dangerous," said Sam.

"I know," said Sookie. "But it's to help my friends."

"And Santiago gone pay you a LOT," Anne Marie said, chuckling.

"Well, I need a new driveway," said Sookie.

"Won't Bill buy you a driveway?" Sam asked.

"I won't ask him for one," Sookie said, lifting her chin.

"It will be safe, Sam," Peggy said, clearly trying to reassure him. "Eric will protect her."

"Oh yeah?" said Sam. "And who is going to protect Eric?"


	25. Chapter 25

"Save me," Eric whispered to Peggy when he saw the outfit he was meant to wear on the Mardi Gras float. It was covered with rhinestones, sequins and feathers and came with a sparkly Viking helmet.

"The Committee decided a Viking theme was appropriate," said Gregory Marstock with a big, smarmy smile. "Both Bill and I will be wearing something similar, though the horns of our helmets will be smaller."

"Wonderful," said Bill. He tried to smile, but only managed to look as if he were in pain.

"Well, go try it on," said Sookie, her eyes twinkling.

"You, too, Eric," Peggy said. Shaking his head, Eric took the costume and followed Bill into the changing area.

Eric, Bill, Sookie, Peggy, and Pam were at Mardi Gras World, across the river from the French Quarter, where the floats for the parades were constructed and painted. They had met there with Marstock and a few other members of the Vampire Businessmen's Association of Louisiana for the costume fitting.

Christopher Santiago was conspicuously absent.

Marstock was the first to emerge in his white and gold outfit, smiling proudly and turning in a circle to display himself to the other members of the club. Peggy held her breath. Laughing at this vampire was a very bad idea. Bill's outfit matched Marstock's and he looked decidedly embarrassed. Sookie pulled out Bill's camera phone and snapped a picture and he sighed as she giggled.

Eric was grinning when he came out of the changing room. Peggy felt her breath catch in her throat. The outfit was ridiculous and extremely garish, but that was the style for Mardi Gras Kings. The helmet indeed had big horns. The tunic was short and worn with tights, showing off Eric's muscular legs.

"How authentic you look," Marstock purred at Eric.

"That is not the word I would have chosen," said Bill.

"Nor I," Eric agreed. "In my day we did not have quite as many sequins… or a feather ruff."

"Oh, I like the feathers," said Sookie.

"Me, too," said Peggy.

"I know who is starring in the next ABBA number," said Pam, and she was the only one who received a glare from Eric.

The seamstress who was responsible for the costumes entered then, and Peggy looked about for Andre. For whatever reason, he had not joined them, and she was just as glad. She knew Bill was not in any hurry to introduce Sookie to the queen's intimate retinue. While the excited lady pounced on Eric, Bill, and Marstock, Peggy drew Sookie quietly aside to speak to her.

"Are you sure you're ready for…later?" Peggy asked.

Sookie smiled. "About as ready as I can be, I guess. You know it's hard for me…"

"I appreciate it, and I know Eric does, too."

"Ha," Sookie chuckled. "You have a higher opinion of Eric than anyone else but Eric himself."

"He has a good side to him," Peggy insisted.

"Don't be angry with me, Peggy."

"I'm not."

"Peggy."

"Well, maybe just a little. But you haven't seen the side of him that I have." Purposefully she opened her mind and grabbed Sookie's hand. Sookie gasped and pulled away as quickly as she could.

"It doesn't matter how good he is in bed!"

Peggy felt her cheeks heat up. "That wasn't what I meant to show you."

"I know, honey," said Sookie. "And I'm sorry Bill and I got to the hotel room before you did last night."

Now they were both blushing. Trying to focus, Peggy took Sookie's hand again. She wanted Sookie to know that Eric wasn't all deviousness and plotting… nor was Christopher.

"I can tell you truly love him," said Sookie. "And you know I'd do this for that alone." She paused. "Christopher, too. Even though I think he's a trickster."

"Sookie, he is a trickster… but he's not evil. Someone is trying to set him up, and Eric, and I think it's the same person. To have stolen Christopher's formula, he must have gotten someone inside the club."

"And that is why I'm going to…eavesdrop…on everyone at Bloody Mary's tonight," Sookie sighed.

Peggy felt cold eyes on the back of her neck and looked up across the room. Marstock was staring at them, and she wondered if he had overheard. After all, vampire hearing was legendary. She squeezed Sookie's hand and silently warned her that they had best end the conversation.

An hour later they were sitting at the best table in Bloody Mary's. Sam and Anne Marie had arrived first. Peggy was glad to see that they seemed to be in a good mood, and might even have been sober. Pam looked bored, but she pushed away her glass of the House Special when it arrived. Bill drank his with obvious delight, despite the glare from Sookie. Eric sipped at his, but he looked distracted.

Peggy reached over and took Eric's hand. He looked at her and smiled, but it looked forced. At her look of dismay and worry, he bent and kissed her cheek. "Everything will be all right, sweetheart," he promised, but she didn't know how he could say that and mean it.

Sookie closed her eyes and Peggy knew she was concentrating on the room. The telepath's gift wasn't always the most accurate weapon, but it was all they had.

"Almost nobody is thinking about Pickle Delight," said Sookie, frustrated, after a few minutes.

"Divine," Sam corrected.

"Well, someone hasn't forgotten her," said Eric.

"You shouldn't either," Sam said seriously.

They had a different waitress tonight, Peggy noticed. She also had not seen Christopher, and she wished he would join them. She looked over and saw Kinkerbelle working a section across the room. As if she felt Peggy's eyes on her, the human drag queen looked over at them, and her cheeks flushed beneath her garish rouge.

Sookie gasped. "She's hiding something…" She turned and look to see who Peggy was looking at. "Her, that waitress."

"You have to talk to her," Sam said urgently. He leapt to his feet, as did Sookie and Eric. Kinkerbelle turned and disappeared through a red velvet curtain. Peggy was still holding Eric's hand and she tugged on it.

"Sit back down. You scared her off."

"Pam—"

Pam sighed. "Yes, Eric. I will go request her company." She zoomed away from the table in a flash.

Eric and Sam sat back down, but Sookie remained standing. She swayed on her feet, and Bill jumped up now to help her sit again.

"You're wearing yourself out, Sookie," he said softly, glaring at Eric.

"What was she thinking, her?" asked Anne Marie.

"Can't let them know," Sookie said. "That's what she was thinking. Can't let them know."

"Know what?" demanded Eric.

"If I knew, I would tell you, Eric," Sookie snapped. She took a sip of Bill's drink. "Ugh, that's worse than regular True Blood."

"But the effect is much more pleasant," said Christopher Santiago as he and Pam appeared beside the table.

"Where's… Kinkerbelle?" asked Sam.

"Regrettably, Kicksy seems to have cut and run," Christopher said. He bent and kissed Peggy on the cheek, then winked at Eric. "I have sent some of my ladies to find her, and when I do, I promise that she will be detained until you can speak to her."

"Could she have killed Lady Pickle?" Sam asked.

"Possibly," said Christopher. He reached out and stroked Sam's hair. "Good boy," he crooned.

"Stop that, you," Anne Marie growled. Christopher laughed. His laughter was wicked and loud and infectious.

"So how did you like the feathers, Eric?" he said, winking.

"Remind me why we are helping you, again," said Eric.

"Because he's paying," said Sookie. She held a hand out to Christopher and he slipped her a check.

"That and because who ever is plotting against him is probably plotting against you, Eric," said Peggy.

"Are you really in love with this Viking, Margaret?" Christopher asked, cocking a dark eyebrow. "You could do so much better."

"No, Christopher… I couldn't," Peggy said, lifting her chin. "And as my friend, I will thank you to remember that."

"Very well, very well. It's late, my darlings… the club is closing soon. I suggest we reconvene tomorrow."

"Tomorrow night is the parade," said Eric.

"Trust me, I haven't forgotten that," said Christopher. "Come here at first dark and I promise I will have Kinkerbelle here to speak with Miss Stackhouse. You will have plenty of time to put on your shiny costume once we have finished her."

"You mean finished with her," said Sookie.

"Let's not argue semantics," said Christopher.


	26. Chapter 26

Sam was annoyed at himself for having slept most of the day. He didn't like keeping vampire hours. He was a morning person. However, the late nights, rich food, and huge amounts of alcohol were wearing him out. He was starting to miss Bon Temps, and work, and they had only been in New Orleans for five days. They were supposed to stay another week. He wondered if Anne Marie would mind leaving early… assuming they could find a rental car.

By the time he and the girls were all up and dressed and had had a very, very late lunch it was near dark and they had to go back to the hotel to meet the vampires. The Krewe of Ancients parade was rolling at nine p.m. so they didn't have much time for their interrogation of Kinkerbelle the drag queen. Eric and Bill had to be Uptown to change into their costumes by eight. Sam had to admit he was looking forward to seeing the costumes, just based on the looks on Peggy and Sookie's faces whenever they mentioned them, and their giggles.

Eric, Bill, and Pam were just stepping out of the elevator into the lobby of the Prince Conti hotel when Sam and the girls arrived. He could not mistake the looks of joy on Sookie and Peggy's faces when they saw their lovers, and Bill was only a bit more reserved when he greeted Sookie. Only Eric seemed almost passive… But no. Sam looked closer. Eric's kiss, dropped coolly on Peggy's brow, was just a tremor masking an earthquake. There was something possessive in his posture, and something feral in his eyes that Sam knew because it existed inside of himself… for Anne Marie.

"We will walk to Mr. Santiago's establishment," Eric said to the lot of them as he led the way, his arm linking through Peggy's.

"All this walking is ruining my shoes," Pam complained, causing Eric to chuckle.

"I will buy you some sneakers," he said. Pam looked mortified.

Sam took Anne Marie's hand. She squeezed his fingers. He looked at her and saw that she was excited, but tired.

"You all right, cher?" he asked.

"M'fine, dawlin'," Anne Marie replied. "Dis jes all a lot, you know? Be glad when we head back home."

Sam grinned. He couldn't help it. He was so glad that they were on the same page. Half way through the French Quarter, Bill dropped a hand on Sam's shoulder.

"Pam and Margaret are going to watch the parade on a private balcony with the queen," the vampire said softly. "You are invited, of course, but if it is no trouble to you, I would prefer that perhaps you and Anne Marie would take Sookie somewhere else."

Sam nodded. "Sure thing, Bill," he said agreeably. Sookie was his friend, and taking her somewhere that meant she wouldn't be around even more vampires would be his pleasure.

"Thank you," said Bill. "I owe you a great debt."

"No," said Sam, "You don't. That okay with you, Sookie?"

"Yes," Sookie said, then she glared at Bill, "And thank you for having the courtesy to ask me, Sam."

"It's for your own good, Sookie," hissed Bill.

"I know that, Bill," said Sookie. "And I'm capable of figuring that out for myself."

Sam tuned them out, knowing they would bicker all the way to Bloody Mary's. He wondered again whether their getting married was a good idea… yet there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it.

When they arrived at the club, it was closed. A handsome young African-American human man was waiting for them at the door. He let out a girlish squeal when he saw them.

"Miss Pam, you look gorgeous, girl."

Pam smiled faintly. "Tata, where are your heels?" she drawled.

"Tata, where is your Master?" Eric asked, sounding faintly menacing. "We do not have time for games."

Tata didn't look scared of Eric, or threatened in the least, which told Sam that he was foolish. No matter how much time you spent with vampires, it didn't do to get complacent.

"Forgive me for having manners," Tata said. "Come on in. Master Santiago's waiting for you." She let them down the hallway towards the now-familiar red velvet curtain that led into the body of the club.

"Doesn't it gall you, as an African-American, to call someone Master?" Sookie asked, sounding disgusted.

"He's a vampire master," said Tata, as if this was perfectly obvious. Maybe she was smarter than Sam had thought. "And you ain't an African-American."

"My friend Tara—"  
"I don't see no Tara here," Tata cut Sookie off.

"But—"

"Honey, just hush yourself. You got no idea."

Sookie gasped with outrage. She looked at Bill, and Sam felt his stomach sinking as he waited for her to demand that he do something. But Bill didn't have to. In a swirl of red velvet and satin cape Christopher Santiago appeared and Tata found himself seized by the throat and dangling from a gloved hand.

"You will be polite to my guests, Tatatiana," Santiago hissed.

"It's okay," Sookie said, now looking worried. "Please put him down."

Eric chuckled and Santiago released the young man, who rubbed his throat silently and failed to look very contrite. "Why don't you fetch us some drinks?" Santiago sighed. Tata nodded and swept the curtain aside, stomping off to the bar.

They went inside to find the bar populated by only three or four young, pretty male vampires, sitting together at one of the tables drinking glasses of thick, red liquid. Sam didn't know if it was regular True Blood, or the House Special, or something else. He realized then that these were the vampires who performed in drag in the bar. He did not see Simone Boudreaux among them.

Christopher ushered them to a table and urged them to sit, then turned to Sookie. "Tell me, my dear… what was Tata thinking?"

"He was thinking that you're an a-hole," Sookie said honestly. Eric laughed out loud. Pam rolled her eyes and Bill looked nervous.

"He right," said Anne Marie.

Christopher Santiago did not look offended in the least, and for that Sam was grateful. "And what else?"

"He wants to be a vampire," Sookie said nervously.

"They all want to be vampires," Santiago sighed.

Sookie looked over at Tata. "He wonders if you'll notice if he spits in your drink. Now he regrets it. He loves you, and he's jealous of… of your lover."

"Which one?" Anne Marie asked sarcastically.

"Spit in my drink?" Santiago looked slightly gleeful, as if the thought of having someone befoul his beverage pleased him.

"He would never spit in your drink. He wonders if you will allow Pam to bite him. He loves her shoes." Sookie sighed. "Now he's just thinking about shoes."

"I don't want to bite him," said Pam.

"Pam does have excellent taste in footwear," said Eric, "But this is not the person we came here to see. Where is Kinkerbelle?"

"She should probably talk to all the humans who were here that night," Peggy said.

"I agree, Margaret," Eric said, "But it still seems logical to start with the one who fled."

"Have you found her?" Bill asked.

Santiago smiled sheepishly and spread his hands. "Someone ought to be bringing her in any minute now."

"You really should learn to keep your people under better control," said Eric.

"Like you did with… what was his name? Long Shadow?" asked Santiago. "News travels, you know."

Tata brought the drinks over to the table and set them out on Bloody Mary's logo coasters. They were just like the ones they had been served here on their first visit; rum for the humans, House Special for the vampires. Sam wanted to say no, but he picked up his glass and took a long swallow. The rum and fruit juices burned his throat, but it felt so good. Peggy drank as well, but no one else seemed inclined. As Tata set Sookie's glass down in front of her, she grabbed his wrist.

"Do you know what's in these drinks?" she asked. Everyone froze, including Tata, whose mouth dropped open in surprise. "No, do you know the formula for the House Special, what's in it?" She looked at Christopher. "He doesn't know. He couldn't have stolen it."

"Somebody stole the formula for the House Special?" said Tata. "Wait, are you reading my mind?" He tried to pull his wrist away from Sookie.

"Have you ever been on the riverboat dinner cruise?" Sookie asked.

"No!"

"He's telling the truth. Were you friends with Lady Pickle?" Sookie was spouting off the questions rapid-fire and Sam knew it was a good tactic to use before Tata realized that all she had to do was not think about what she was being asked, or realized she could think a lie.

"Friends, not with that bitch, no," said Tata. "I'm glad she's dead."

"Did you kill her?" Santiago demanded. His sudden anger jolted Sam and reminded him of how dangerous angry vampires were.

"No!" said Tata. "I didn't… I swear!"

"Sookie," said Santiago, looking right into her eyes. "Is he telling the truth?"


	27. Chapter 27

Peggy knew that Tata's life hung in the balance with Sookie's answer. She bit her lip. She had seen humans pulled apart by vampires and she was suddenly frightened that she might see it again, here, now. Eric looked as cold as a statue. He was furious and frustrated, she could feel it, though he was trying to keep his composure. He was tired of the games being played in New Orleans, and she knew he wanted to return to his own domain.

"Sookie!"

"He's telling the truth," said Sookie. "He doesn't know anything about who killed Lady Pickle Divine."

"Do you know anyone who pays special attention to Mr. Marstock when he comes in?" Christopher asked softly. Tata hesitated.

"Well…"

"Kicksy?" said Sookie.

"Kinkerbelle," said Christopher. "Does she see him outside of work?"

"I don't know," Tata insisted. "Can you ask her to let go my arm?"

Sookie let go of Tata's arm. "He doesn't know anything else."

Christopher turned to the young vampires at the other table. Peggy knew they were there to provide protection, a display of loyalty. She also knew that they were probably no match against Eric, Pam, and Bill… but she hoped that no such altercation would take place. Eric didn't like Christopher, but he had no cause for quarrel with him that they knew of.

That they knew of.

"Where is Kinkerbelle?" Eric asked, his voice low.

Christopher glared at him. "If I knew that—"

"He's under another vampire's protection now," said a sweet, low voice with a familiar ring to it.

An auburn-haired vampire strolled into the club, dressed in tight-fitting jeans and a slim, black leather jacket. He strolled to the table and kissed Santiago on the mouth. The kiss was long, slow, and heated, and a trickle of blood rolled out from between their lips before it ended.

"Dis my brother," said Anne Marie abruptly. "Simone de la Boudoir. Née Boudreaux."

Peggy gasped. She had not seen Simone Boudreaux as…well, as a man before. It was harder to pick out the resemblance than it had been with Tatatiana.

"Marstock has Kicksy. She's the one who stole the formula," said Simone. "She thinks she's in love with him."

"Maybe she is in love with him," said Sookie.

"Why are you defending her?" Bill asked.

"I'm not defending her. I'm defending love," Sookie said.

"In love or not, I am going to kill her for stealing from me," said Santiago.

"If she stole the formula, then why was the effect different?"

"She missed an ingredient," said Simone, and he winked at Christopher.

"It's impossible to duplicate perfectly," Christopher said modestly, "But even a bad copy could be competition. Well, mystery solved. Now I have only to deal with Kicksy."

"The mystery isn't exactly solved," Eric pointed out.

"We still don't know who killed Lady Pickle Divine," said Sam.

"Or how and why I got elected King of the Krewe," said Eric.

"Speaking of which, you're going to be late," Pam drawled.

"Marstock is riding on the float with you," said Christopher sourly to Bill and Eric. "See what you can learn from him."

"Thank you for that helpful idea," said Eric sarcastically.

"The queen asked me to escort your party to her private balcony," Santiago said. "I have a car outside. We can get you to the top of the parade route as well."

They all stood, Sookie joining Sam and Anne Marie to go watch the parade out on the street.

"Can I come with you?" Simone asked Anne Marie.

"Course you can, you," Anne Marie said, sounding pleased.

In the car, Peggy pressed close to Eric. He drew her up against him, and she felt safe. She knew the feeling would not last long. He would leave to go ride on the float, and she would be without his protection. Essentially, she would be at the mercy of the queen, who had denied her heart's desire. She looked at Pam, who looked back at her with a serious expression. Pam arched an eyebrow, but the look was not questioning. Would Pam protect her?

The car pulled up at the building where the queen's party was waiting, and Eric kissed Peggy. The kiss was so firm, so passionate, that she wondered if it was a kiss good-bye. Why was she so afraid? Christopher, Pam and Peggy slipped out of the limousine. As the door closed, shutting Eric and Bill inside, Peggy felt a moment of panic.

"Do not worry, cherie," Christopher said into her ear. "You will be safe."

"Will Eric?"

"That, I cannot say."

"He'll be fine," Pam drawled. She flashed a look at Christopher. Whatever they had shared while she was drunk seemed to have passed.

Christopher took Peggy's elbow and escorted her into a shadowy doorway, through a narrow hallway, and up a sharp staircase. Pam followed behind them. Peggy forced a mask of calm as two hulking vampire guards looked them over, then let them pass. They stepped out onto a large balcony hung low over St. Charles Avenue. Chairs were drawn close to the rail at the edge, and in one of them sat the small form of Sophie-Anne Leclerq. Behind her chair stood Andre.

"Be seated," Sophie-Anne said in a pleasant voice without looking at any of them. Peggy looked at Christopher and he nodded, indicating the chair next to the queen's. Peggy slipped into it, and Christopher sat next to her. Pam sat on his other side.

"Would you care for refreshments?" asked Andre, his voice liquid and cool.

"Please," said Christopher.

Andre waved a hand and a masked human servant came forward. The drinks were served in golden goblets. Peggy didn't know what the vampires' cups contained, but hers was what seemed to be a mint julep. She didn't question, just sipped it politely.

They sat quietly for some time. It would be an hour or so before the parade began to pass where they were, and it took all of Peggy's self-control not to fidget. She looked down at the huge crowd below and wondered where her friends were. She was acutely aware that aside from the servant, she was the only human present.

Soon the parade began to pass by, and beads rained down on them. Every vampire in the Krewe of Ancients stopped to bow to the queen, and toss them plastic trinkets. Peggy got caught up in the fun of the moment… but the moment was all too brief.

And then came Eric's float. He and Bill and even Marstock looked decidedly regal. The float paused briefly in front of their balcony so that Eric could bow to the queen, and from behind his mask he winked at Peggy. He tossed beads to the queen, but he tossed better ones to Peggy. This did not go unnoticed, and Peggy offered her beads to the queen as the float rolled past, taking Eric towards the French Quarter.

"And what would Eric do if I decided to taste you, Margaret?" Sophie-Anne said, turning slightly to look at her, accepting the beaded medallion. Peggy looked at her. She considered. What would Eric do?

"I imagine he would not be amused," she said, willing her voice to be soft and pleasant.

"But would he take action?"

"He is your loyal servant, ma'am," Peggy replied. She could sense Pam and Christopher's tension and she prayed they would keep still. They vibrated with suppressed desire to act when Sophie-Anne reached out and stroked Peggy's throat. Peggy wanted to pull back, but she didn't dare. She knew the queen was baiting her.

"You do look delicious."

"Thank you."

"You love him."

"Yes."

"He loves you as well. I think I approve."

"Then why, ma'am, do you not allow him to make me vampire?"

Sophie-Anne smiled slightly. "Maybe I will."

"Don't toy with her, Sophie-Anne," Christopher snapped. The queen gave him a sharp look. He smiled sheepishly and inclined his head. Sophie-Anne looked back at Peggy.

"Marstock has stolen the formula to Christopher's alcoholic blood beverage," Peggy said.

"Has he?" Sophie-Anne sounded surprised.

Peggy nodded. "He's a thief, and he planted a spy at Bloody Mary's."

"I will have him investigated."

"Thank you," Christopher said with gratitude.

"I think he may even be behind the death of one of Christopher's humans," said Peggy.

"You can't prove anything," someone whispered. Peggy turned to see the servant who had brought their drinks striding towards them. He ripped off his mask, and Santiago started in surprise.

"Kicksy?"

"Who are you?" Sophie-Anne demanded. "What happened to Timothy?"

"Stay away from Gregory!" the young man known as Kinkerbelle shouted. No one saw the weapon until it was too late to act.

There was a flash of silver, and a knife came down.


	28. Chapter 28

Sam, Anne Marie, Sookie and Simone blended easily into the crowd on St. Charles Avenue. Anne Marie seemed happy, and this in turn made Sam happy. Sookie was doing her best to deal with the crowd – the thoughts and minds of which must have been overwhelming to her. Simone was being courteous to her, helping her through the mass of people when she seemed to need it.

Sam studied Simone as he could. The slender, handsome vampire seemed very much at ease with himself, the crowd, the city, the situation. His resemblance to Anne Marie made him disturbingly attractive to Sam, and drinking as much as Sam had been doing didn't help that. He wondered, if they were alone, if Simone might have been able to seduce him. Then he wondered why he was thinking such a thing.

They settled in a spot close to the doorway that Peggy, Pam, and Santiago had disappeared into. It was crowded, but Sam didn't mind, not much. He twisted his head upwards and saw the balcony where their companions must be with the vampire queen of Louisiana, but he couldn't see them.

"How you doing?" Sam asked Anne Marie softly. She looked at him and smiled wistfully.

"M'fine, Sam."

"You…worried?"

"Bout who?"

"Peggy?"

"A little. But I trust Pam an' Santiago."

"You do?" Sam's eyes widened.

Anne Marie nodded. "Dey do their bes' to protect her. I jes worry if that maybe ain' enough."

Sam sighed. "I guess there's nothing we can do but stay close."

Simone turned towards them. "I can sense them, you know," he said. "I can always feel Christopher. If anything happens to Peggy… he'll be upset."

Sam nodded. "But can you get up there? If they need help?"

Simone tilted his head. "Maybe. But not likely."

Anne Marie muttered a soft curse.

"Sookie, can you… hear… Peggy at all from here?" Sam asked.

"Too many people, Sam," Sookie said miserably. "I have to concentrate on keeping them out or it'll be too much. No way I can pick her out. Simone's got a better chance than I do."

"You wan' go back to the hotel, Sook?" asked Anne Marie.

Sookie smiled. "No way! I want to see Bill on that parade float!"

Soon enough the parade began.

It was quite a spectacle. The Krewe of Ancients had tried to put on a typical night-time Mardi Gras parade, with marching bands, flambeaux carriers, and extravagant floats, but they couldn't help trying to outshine the human krewes, Sam thought. The vampires' wealth was evident in their throws – the beads and trinkets tossed into the crowd – and their elaborate displays.

Every rider in the parade was a vampire, and the parade theme was "Viking Adventures." Sam bit back a laugh – he knew the theme had been chosen with Eric in mind, but it seemed as much a mockery as a tribute. All the float riders wore Viking helmets and masks. The doubloons and medallion beads tossed to the crowd had a picture of a handsome, fanged Viking on them, though it looked more like a cartoon than like Eric.

As they were near the queen's balcony, Sam could see that each float stopped to pay tribute to her… and throws aimed at her that missed the balcony showered the crowd below, drawing more and more people to the spot. Finally came Eric's float. A grin split Sam's face as he saw Eric and Bill and Gregory Marstock in the gaudy costumes of Mardi Gras royalty, covered with sequins and feathers. Eric's enormous shiny, horned Viking helmet seemed ridiculous, but Sam had to admit that he wore it regally.

"Bill!" Sookie hollered.

Bill looked down and waved at them. His expression, mostly hidden behind his mask, was of accepted embarrassment. He tossed a handful of beads in their general direction, but they landed to the crowd along side of them. Sam saw Sookie fighting with a nun (or someone dressed as a nun) over a long strand.

"Impressive," Simone commented to Sam. "They have to hold back their strength when tossing those throws or they could easily kill someone."

"I didn't think about that," said Sam.

"You have no idea how many contracts and requirements and restrictions they had to sign with the city in order to do this parade," Simone said. There was a twang to his speech, but he had almost no Cajun accent. "Christopher helped with much of the paperwork and it was all I heard about for months."

"I guess he's really disappointed that he didn't get to ride in the parade," Sam said.

Simone nodded. "It really wasn't fair. He will have Kicksy's head for this. I have a feeling she killed Pickle, you know?"

Sam nodded. The King's float passed on by, and Sam knew the parade was nearly over, to his relief.

"You want to go to a bar after this?" he asked Anne Marie.

She nodded. "Be too woun' up to go back t' hotel. Jes have to get Sookie back wid Bill first. Simone, you gone come?"

"If Christopher doesn't need me."

Sam was glad to see that brother and sister seemed to have reconciled, and that Anne Marie's mood seemed to be improving. He opened his mouth to say something else, but suddenly Simone stiffened.

"Something's wrong! Something's wrong on the balcony!" he said.

"Wrong? How? What?" Sookie demanded.

"Christopher's upset! Eric, he wants me to get Eric!" Simone zoomed off into the crowd, disappearing in a blur.

Sam automatically turned in the direction that Eric's float had gone. It was just rounding the corner from St. Charles onto Canal Street. As Sam watched, he saw Eric looking down into the crowd, then, tossing down the handful of beads he was holding, Eric leapt off of the float.

"He gone hurt dem people he land on!" Anne Marie gasped.

"No he won't," said Sookie. "He can—"

"Holy shit!" said a stranger standing near them. "That vampire's FLYING!"

Eric flew through the air, whipping right above their heads and of the heads of the amazed onlookers. Sam felt more than heard the jolt as Eric landed on the balcony of the building behind them. He nearly lost his balance as suddenly Simone was there, shoving them towards the doorway that Peggy, Pam, and Santiago had disappeared into earlier. Sam wondered vaguely why Simone didn't leap onto the balcony as well, but then he realized that Simone was breaking through the locked door to let them into the building. He disappeared up the stairs at vampire speed, leaving Sam, Anne Marie, and Sookie to run up the stairs after him.

By the time they reached the balcony, whatever emergency had been transpiring was over… or maybe it was just beginning. Sam skidded to a halt in the doorway, taking in the scene before them. Anne Marie and Sookie nearly slammed into the back of him. He felt Anne Marie grab at his hand.

Two enormous vampire guards were fighting to hold Eric back. Eric's eyes were burning flames of anger, his fangs fully extended, his rage nearly palpable. His shiny Viking helmet and mask lay on the floor as if they had been knocked or thrown aside in the struggle. It was taking all the strength of these vampires to keep Eric still. Sam knew that the fact that they could do it at all meant that they had to be ancient and powerful.

"NO! NO!" Eric shouted. "Let me go!"

Another vampire with the face of a teenager and the expression of a judge held Pam by one arm. Pam wasn't struggling, and her face was stamped with shocked disbelief. It was not a look Sam had ever seen her wearing before, nor could he ever have pictured it if he hadn't seen it now.

"Eric… Eric…" Pam said, seeming hardly aware that she was saying anything at all.

Sitting in a chair at the edge of the balcony was a calm-looking red-haired female vampire. Sam knew instantly that this must be Sophie-Anne Leclerq. She looked tenderly young and lovely, but she also looked hard and dangerous. She was wearing a flattering gold sleeveless dress that was completely ruined by the dark crimson stain of fresh blood across the front of it.

Simone was by Christopher Santiago's side, looking grave. Santiago held Peggy in his arms, and there was blood… so much blood… on Peggy's throat, her dress, her face, her lips… all over Christopher… on his mouth, his arms. His fangs were out, extended and bloody.

Twisted on the floor of the balcony lay the young, dark-haired man that Sam had seen talking to Gregory Marstock on the riverboat. Sam realized that this was Kinkerbelle, the drag queen waitress from Bloody Mary's. He was clutching a blood-stained silver knife in one hand. His throat was completely torn out. Kinkerbelle was dead.

So was Peggy.


	29. Chapter 29

Sam stood, shocked, unable to move. Grief flooded him. No, not poor Peggy, not like this. Yet there was no doubt in his mind that she was gone. Her eyes were closed, her head lolled to the side, and Santiago clutched her in his arms.

"Margaret!" Eric screamed. "Let me go, you savages! I'll kill you. I will kill ALL OF YOU!"

"Do not let him go," said Sophie-Anne softly. She had barely spared a glance at Sam, Anne Marie and Sookie, still clotted together in the doorway. "Northman, you need to calm down."

"You killed her!" Sam growled at Christopher. Santiago looked over at him in annoyance.

"Stop barking," he sneered.

"It was Kicksy," Simone said miserably. "She stabbed Peggy."

"Margaret gave her life to protect the queen," said the vampire holding on to Pam's arm. "The knife was made of silver."

"Pam, why didn't you stop this?" Eric raged.

"Eric, I'm sorry," Pam said, and she did sound genuinely sorry. She yanked her arm. "Andre, let go of me." Andre glanced at the queen, who nodded slightly, and he released Pam.

"She didn't have the chance," Santiago snapped. "None of us did!"

"No, no…" Anne Marie muttered from behind Sam. "Dis can' be."

"Sam," Sookie said. "Oh, Sam."

"You took her from me, Santiago!" Eric raged.

"What does that mean?" Sam demanded, not of Eric in particular but of the whole group. He looked at Simone, the most likely to answer him.

"Sam," said Simone, "Christopher has made Peggy into a vampire, to save her life."

"So…she's not dead?"

"Oh, she's dead," said Sophie-Anne, "We're all dead, technically."

"You could have let me do it!" Eric snarled. Sam now understood the gravity of the situation, and he was thankful for the two giant vampire guards that were holding the enraged Viking still. "She was MINE!"

"There was no time," Santiago insisted.

"Then it should have been Pam," Eric said bitterly. He seemed to have stopped fighting, but the guards didn't let him go.

"I made the decision," said Sophie-Anne, "And you should thank me for not simply permitting her to die."

"Forgive me if I do not feel very grateful!" Eric snapped.

"I will, but just for a short time," said Sophie-Anne. "Santiago, take her away. Eric, you can see her once she awakens. Tomorrow night, at the ball, I think. Not before."

"No! I want to stay with her—" Eric began struggling again as Santiago rose, holding Peggy in his arms.

"She has to spend this first day with her maker," Andre said calmly. "You know that, Eric."

"Margaret…Oh, my Margaret." Eric's voice came out a broken, desperate croak, and Sam felt a twinge of pity for him.

Santiago headed for the doorway, and Simone followed him. Sam and the girls stepped aside to let them pass.

"You should come with us," Simone said, looking at Anne Marie in particular. Sam was just about to agree when Bill and Marstock came racing up the stairs. Sookie nearly fell into Bill's embrace. Marstock pushed past them onto the balcony. Santiago glared at him hatefully, but said nothing. Sam got the feeling that Christopher would have his revenge.

"Sookie, are you all right?" Bill demanded.

"I'm fine, but Peggy's not," Sookie said.

"Is she dead?"

"Yes, Compton, she is." Santiago rolled his eyes and carried Peggy off down the stairs, Simone following and casting an urgent glance back at Anne Marie.

"Santiago made her a vampire," Sam answered Bill. "And we should go."

But it was too late; the queen was beckoning them over even while she was addressing Marstock.

"Gregory Marstock, you have been accused of stealing Christopher Santiago's work and of using it in my territory without my permission. Also, you seduced away one of his employees, who murdered another one of Santiago's humans, then attempted to kill me."

Marstock looked pale, even for a vampire. He hardly glanced down at Kinkerbelle's pathetic, dead body. No remorse, no sense of loss. Sam suddenly had a new respect for Eric, whose grief for Peggy was palpable. There remained not even a shadow of a doubt that Eric had loved her, still did love her. How would that change now? Not only was Peggy a vampire, but she was a vampire of someone else's blood. Sam wondered if her connection to Eric would be broken. Would Peggy still love Eric?

"It's your fault that she's dead," Eric hissed, and now Marstock looked visibly afraid.

"Now, Sophie-Anne, I was just trying to get ahead in business," Marstock said in a wheedling tone, laying the Southern Gentleman routine on thick. "And you know any business I bring to the city in turn helps you. Santiago and I just had a little friendly competition."

"With friends like you, who needs enemies?" Eric said. Marstock ignored him.

"This is really just an unpleasant understanding," said Marstock, smiling at Sophie-Anne. "As for Kicksy here, why, I certainly had no idea he was going to do anything so rash. The boy was unbalanced, no doubt due to the debauchery he experienced at Santiago's hands."

Sophie-Anne looked disgusted. She didn't even bother to answer Marstock. She just nodded at the two enormous guards, and they let go of Eric. Eric moved too fast for Sam to see. Marstock had only enough time to let out a gurgle before he was lying on the balcony next to Kinkerbelle with an enormous hole in his chest. Eric had ripped out his heart with his bare hand. In Eric's grasp, the heart melted into dust, and soon Marstock's corpse began to do the same. Eric whirled to face Sophie-Anne and Andre.

"Don't do anything rash," Andre said sharply.

Eric glared at them for a long moment, then jumped off of the balcony, disappearing into the night sky. Sophie-Anne shook her head.

"Pam, go find him. Make sure he stays away from Christopher Santiago tonight," said Sophie-Anne.

"Certainly," said Pam.

"And don't jump off the balcony!"

"I wasn't planning on it." Pam turned and sashayed past all of them, down the stairs into the street.

"I should rip his fangs out for that," the queen said casually to Andre. "Doesn't he know how much press I have to buy every time someone does some super-human stunt? We can't let the mortals know the full extent of our powers. It would seriously… freak them out."

Sam's eyes widened at her use of the modern expression, but he said nothing. He was getting the feeling that they really should get the hell out of there, but now the queen turned at last to face them. "Bill! Who are all these…witnesses?"

Sam didn't like the sound of that.

Bill stepped forward. "This is… Sookie Stackhouse."

"I'm Bill's," Sookie added nervously. The queen nodded.

"And this is Sam Merlotte, the shifter. Anne Marie Boudreaux, the sister of Christopher's progeny, Simone."

"Also a shifter, then," said Sophie-Anne. "Very well. I recall that you are all on the guest list for the ball tomorrow. Perhaps I will talk to you then. I've certainly had enough excitement for one night."

She turned and went down the stairs, with Andre and the two bodyguards following close behind.

"I believe we've been dismissed," said Bill, with relief.

"Good," said Sam.

"I suggest we adjoin to the hotel," said Bill.

"I agree," said Sam. "Ladies?"

Sookie and Anne Marie were fairly quiet for once and simply followed.

"Poor Peggy," Anne Marie said.

"Poor Eric," Sookie replied.

Sam felt bad for both of the star-crossed lovers… and a small part of him felt bad for Christopher Santiago as well. He would be lucky if he didn't meet the same fate as Gregory Marstock once Eric caught up with him.


	30. Chapter 30

Peggy felt cold. She was coming slowly into awareness, and the utter freezing cold was the first sensation that came over her. She had the thought that for some reason, she should be in pain. Something had happened to her and she couldn't quite remember what, but it had hurt quite a lot. Yet there was no pain, just cold and… hungry, she was hungry.

She stretched, and opened her eyes, but wherever she was, it was very dark and it took time to adjust. Someone was lying next to her. Had she slept next to Eric? They very rarely did that, but the thought of it was certainly appealing. She moved a bit closer and felt arms come tenderly around her. Eric, then. But why did she feel so… separate… from him? Normally she knew instantly what he was feeling and what he wanted when he awakened her (not that even without their bond, she couldn't have guessed.) She rolled closer and he kissed her.

His mouth was eager and wicked, and she felt a response low inside of her, but that was quelled slightly by her intense hunger. Had she gone to bed without dinner last night? His hands toyed with her hair. His mouth tasted different, the contour was different… no, this wasn't Eric.

Gasping, she sat up and pulled away. All of a sudden, her eyesight was perfect, she was fully awake, and she was looking at Christopher, who was grinning at her like he had just thrown her the best surprise birthday party ever. They were inside a large crypt that was perfectly filthy, lying on a slab meant to hold a coffin. The smell of ancient death was impossibly strong.

She slapped Christopher so hard that he went flying backwards off of the slab, knocking his head against the far wall and sending a shower of crumbly cement and cobwebs into his dark hair. She was first shocked by her own strength, then by the fact that he was dressed in blood red satin pajamas. His feet were bare.

"What are you wearing?" she gasped. He looked surprised for a minute, then began laughing loudly. Christopher rose to his feet in an unworldly way, rising straight up from the ground without any apparent bending or use of muscles. He posed, showing off the pajamas.

"I suppose Eric always sleeps naked," he said.

"Yes," said Peggy.

"I thought you might object if you found me that way," he said with an artificial pout.

"Yes," she agreed.

"And now you have some questions."

"Yes! Christopher—"

He held up a hand and she stopped. "It's about six o'clock. The sun has just set. It's Mardi Gras day. We're in Lafayette Cemetery in the Garden District. And you're a vampire." He bent over and picked up a six pack from the floor. "True Blood?"

Peggy didn't even question the validity of what he had just told her. She had seen the way he flew backwards when she hit him. She held out her hand and he opened a bottle of True Blood and passed it to her. She noted that it was Type A Positive.

Peggy didn't even bother with a tentative sip. She was starving and she knew why. She felt her brand new fangs pop out for the first time. The feeling was strange but somehow natural and sort of pleasant. She drank the bottle down in one pull. Christopher looked impressed. The ache of hunger inside her eased only slightly. He opened and handed her a second bottle, and now she sipped on it while they talked. The taste was palatable, and she suspected she might even enjoy it when she got used to it.

"Why A Positive?" she asked.

"It's my favorite," he said modestly. "And Simone's, so I figured it was a good one to start you on."

"You're my maker," she said, the realization coming suddenly. There should have been a sharp emotional pain in discovering that it wasn't Eric, but to her amazement, she really felt little more than curiosity at the moment.

"Yes," he said.

"Eric's going to be pissed."

"He is," sighed Christopher. "Do you remember what happened at all?"

Peggy thought about it for a long time. "I was stabbed."

"You threw yourself in front of Sophie-Anne," Christopher reminded her.

"Well, that was stupid of me."

Christopher laughed. "Maybe so, but she was grateful enough to let me save your life."

"Save my life? Aren't I dead?"

"Let's not split hairs."

"Fine. Why didn't she let Eric do it?"

"Honestly, if we had waited for him, you would have died. Now, she could have let Pam do it…"

Peggy rolled her eyes. "And to think I liked Sophie-Anne for half a minute yesterday. What happened to the guy who stabbed me?"

"He is dead. Marstock is dead, too. Eric killed him. The queen permitted it. I also hear tell she may give me control of the riverboat company." Christopher's black eyes sparkled in the dim light.

"So you just win all the way around, don't you?" Peggy said bitterly.

"Well… Eric still got to be King of the Krewe of Ancients."

"I'm sure he finds that a great consolation. I suppose I belong to you now." Peggy sighed. She finished the second True Blood and took a third. "I feel greedy…"

"You're just new," Christopher assured her. "It's better to drink as much as you can, unless you want to go catch a tourist or something."

"I am not quite ready for that," said Peggy. She tentatively ran her tongue over her new fangs.

"You don't, you know," he said, looking at her intensely. There was a sense of honesty to his words, and she knew then that they were connected. Yet even so, the connection was nothing near as strong as her connection to Eric had been.

She had no sense of Eric at all, and suddenly she hated that. She felt utterly alone. She knew Christopher, she felt Christopher, but he wasn't inside her, didn't possess her the way Eric had. She knew she could walk away from him painlessly, as if nothing had changed.

"I don't what?"

"You don't belong to me, Margaret. You belong only to yourself now. You are free to go."

"How is that possible?"

"My children are never bonded to me in the way that many are bonded to their maker," Christopher explained gently. "I cannot force them to answer my call. They stay as long as they wish to be with me, and then they go."

Peggy felt a dawning understanding… then she smiled. "So Simone truly loves you," she said.

"I love him, too. But love is something different for me, and for him."

She nodded. "It's a blessing. Don't drive him away."

Christopher chuckled. "I will try not to. But you know… he really knows me. He knows who I am, what I am… and he cares for me despite that."

"Or because of it," said Peggy.

Christopher tilted his head and smiled slightly. "Perhaps. But now we must get ready for the Krewe of Ancients Mardi Gras ball. I had Pam deliver your dress to my private apartments so you can get ready there."

Peggy nodded. "Thank you."

They left the cemetery together, she in her bloodstained, dirty clothes and he in his satin pajamas, and as they went, she wondered where Eric was.


	31. Chapter 31

She should have been Eric's date, but instead, she was walking into the giant hall where the Mardi Gras ball was being held on someone else's arm. As they entered the room, festooned liberally in purple, green and gold decorations, she saw him across the room. He was sitting on a throne on a dais, much like he did at Fangtasia. He was wearing a tuxedo and looked mouthwatering, his long blond hair neat and tied back in a ponytail. Pam loitered behind him with Simone, chatting with a bored expression.

As promised, Peggy's dress had been delivered to Christopher's apartment, a lovely suite of rooms in the French Quarter on Dumaine Street. The dress was emerald green with gold trim and fit like a glove. Pam had helped her pick it. When she tried it on tonight, she had to admit that it had looked better than ever. She had changed when Christopher had given her his blood. It had brought out all her best features, enhanced them. She could barely believe she was the same person.

Then again…she wasn't. Not at all.

Peggy searched her heart to see if she felt anything as she spotted her lover, but it was hard to say. She was numb. Looking around the room, she saw Sam and Anne Marie dancing. Bill and Sookie were in a far corner, huddled together and sharing conversation. Peggy felt like if she concentrated, she could hear them. She didn't. She didn't care about trying out her new powers, or exploring what she had become.

She felt like nothing mattered at all. No one seemed to notice them come in. Peggy felt invisible. She stalled in the doorway, staring across the room at Eric.

"Margaret," Christopher murmured. "Go to him."

"I can't."

"Of course you can."

Then Eric saw her. His eyes locked with hers, and his expression went utterly blank. She could not read him, could not feel him – nothing. He stood up instantly, and for a moment she thought Eric would race across the room to her, but he didn't move. He just stared.

"Do I have to pick you up and carry you?" Christopher hissed.

"Maybe."

He laughed. "I am going to in three… two…"

Peggy started walking. She felt as if the air was made of molasses. She never tore her glance from Eric. He never looked away from her. She knew her heart should be pounding in her chest, but it was utterly still, unmoving, unmoved. When she reached Eric, she curtsied to him and he bowed slightly, but then for a too-long moment they stood staring at each other like strangers. She saw Santiago slip up next to Simone and kiss him tenderly.

Finally Eric spoke.

"Margaret," he said softly. "I am sorry."

"There's nothing to be sorry for, Eric."

He tilted his head slightly. "I should have been there for you."

Peggy shook her head. She wanted, suddenly, to fling herself into his arms. She wanted everything to go back to the way it had been. She wanted to feel again. She wanted to… to love him again.

"Why can't I feel you any more?"

"When Santiago gave you his blood, our bond was broken," Eric murmured. He lifted his hand as if he would touch her, but then let it fall back to his side.

"I want it back!" Her hands balled into fists.

"It would not be the same."

"Why not?"

"Because," Eric said, his voice low and dangerous, "You are vampire now. We can drink each other's blood, but we cannot sustain each other. We will always need blood from other sources."

"So?"

"So that will never suit your idea of monogamy."

"It is better than being without you," Peggy insisted.

"Maybe it is better to have a clean break now," said Eric. "I refuse to hurt you. I refuse to drive you into hating me."

She nodded slightly, still searching inside for emotion, for the feelings that had almost overwhelmed her. "Damn it," she mumbled. She turned around, walked away from him. Walked across the room, headed for the exit. "I could never hate you, Eric," she said.

"I would like to believe that," said Eric. He was next to her, standing in the doorway. He had come after her.

"I thought you wanted a clean break."

"I cannot let you walk away," he said, defeated. No, not defeated. Determined. "My feelings for you have not changed, Margaret."

"Why can't I feel anything at all, Eric?"

She collapsed into his arms. He drew her up against him. "You are so beautiful," he said, his voice low and husky. "You are the best thing I have ever had. You are the best thing Godric ever did for me."

Peggy put her arms around his neck and kissed him. His lips were familiar but the kiss was cold. She was cold. The kiss awakened her insides, made her body crave his, but the method was different. There was no heat. How strange. How strange… and how wonderful.

"I don't want to leave you, Eric," she said when the kiss ended. Normally she would have been gasping for breath, but she no longer needed to breathe.

"You are already gone."

"No! Eric, no. I am right here, and now all eternity is ahead of me. We can share that. We can share forever!"

"You will not want me forever."

"Let me be the judge of that!"

He forced a sigh. "You belong to Santiago now."

"He has no claim on me."

"He is your maker, Margaret!" Eric said.

"He doesn't love me," said Peggy. "But you do, Eric. I know it. Tell me it wasn't just our blood bond. And if it was, then bond me to you again."

His hand stroked the side of her face. "That is very, very tempting."

"Christopher will not force me to anything, Eric. I am yours, as I have been from the first moment you laid eyes on me."

"Godric—"

"Not because of Godric!" she insisted, and it was the first time she had ever said it out loud.

Eric paused for only a moment. "Not because of Godric," he admitted. "Because we are… fated."

He kissed her again. She clung to him, and he to her. She felt suddenly that everyone was watching. They were still in the doorway, exposed to the eyes of every vampire in the room. He took her hand and led her out of the hall, down the stairs, outside, into a shadowy alcove.

"You are supposed to—"

"Margaret, right now, I do not give a damn what I am supposed to do. Let's go back to the hotel right now. We will bolt the door, and to hell with everyone else. I want you. I want to re-claim you. I want you to claim me. I want you to taste my blood and I want to taste yours. I want you to own me... forever."

"I want you back inside my mind, in my heart," she replied. "I want to know your feelings. I want you to be able to find me. I love you, Eric. I do! I am so empty right now, so devoid of everything but I know that I love you! I may have had my life taken, but I will not lose my love for you as well."

He swept her up into his arms and launched himself into the sky. He was flying, carrying her. He had never done anything like this before though he had certainly possessed the ability. New Orleans was a blur below them, and then they were in front of the hotel, then inside, running up the stairs. Movement was so easy for her now. She had a glimpse of the joy that would be hers as a supernatural creature. Her limitations were gone, and now she would have everything that Godric had wanted for her.

Eric let them into the hotel room and they fell into the bed closest to the door. Peggy glimpsed the four coffins that were in the room besides the two beds and shuddered as she realized that she might find herself sleeping in one of them. No time to ruminate on it. Eric was tearing her dress and she was ripping at his tuxedo. Preserving the clothing didn't matter.

She was ready for him, and he was quickly inside her. Their fangs clashed together and their kisses were violent as they roughly made love. She lifted her mouth up from his, and he looked into her eyes for a long pulse. His eyes were such a bright blue, an ancient and cloudless blue. Slowly Eric tilted his head to the side, offering himself. Just as slowly, Peggy sank her new fangs into his throat. His cool blood flooded her mouth and her whole body convulsed with pleasure. It was unlike anything she had ever known. Nothing, she thought, could possibly feel better than this.

It turned out she was wrong, she learned, as Eric turned them slightly and managed to bite into her at the same time.

That was much, much better.


	32. Chapter 32

Sam looked around the table as Tata served drinks. Bloody Mary's was not yet open for the evening, but they were there early to say good-bye before heading back to Bon Temps. That is, he and Anne Marie were heading back to Bon Temps. Everyone else was staying on for another week.

"It ver' kind of you to lend us a car, Santiago," Anne Marie said to the dark-haired vampire who sat nearly entwined with her brother.

"It is, isn't it?" Santiago said grandly, then, "Ow!" as Simone pinched him. "In any event, it is the least I can do. The lot of you have been a good deal of help to me during your visit."

"And now you're back in the queen's good graces," Simone said proudly.

"Better her attention on you than on us," Bill said. Sam knew that Bill wished to take Sookie back to Bon Temps tonight as well, but they had been ordered to stay. Sam had offered to take just Sookie back, but she had refused to leave Bill.

"You will not be able to avoid her much longer," Eric prophesied.

"I am counting on you and Peggy to distract her," Bill replied.

Sam looked over at Peggy. She had never looked so beautiful, Sam thought, recalling his brief-lived attraction to her when they had first met so many months ago. Her hair was golden and curled softly around her shoulders, her lips were deep red, her blue eyes shined with light… and her skin was white and pale as the moon. She was a vampire now, and Sam felt a deep twinge of sorrow for her.

He hoped she would be happy. He hated the fact that Christopher Santiago had turned her, even though he had turned out to be somewhat tolerable, for a vampire. Sam knew that was a right that should have belonged to Eric—and more because that was what Peggy would have wanted than because it was what Eric wanted.

But now it didn't matter. The act was done.

Peggy sat holding Eric's hand, their fingers entwined on top of the table. Her lovely, unlined face was devoid of all expression, but when Sam looked at her, she smiled.

"Are you happy?" Sam blurted out, and everyone looked at him, as if he should not have dared to ask such a thing.

"I am not unhappy," Peggy replied, still smiling. "Don't worry about me, Sam. I was not made vampire against my will. I would only have preferred the method to be different."

"And the maker," Eric grumbled. Santiago chuckled softly. Sam was marginally surprised that Eric didn't throttle him.

Peggy looked at Eric and used one finger to tilt his face towards her. Eric looked into her eyes, and this was the only time Sam had ever seen the Viking vampire seem less than confident, perhaps worried. Sam knew that Eric had something very big at stake (so to speak, and the pun was certainly not intended.) Eric stood to lose her.

Sam could never have borne losing Anne Marie. The thought of it chilled him – the thought that her feelings might change and that she might suddenly leave him brought him near to anguish, and so he imagined that this anguish was what Eric was teetering on the edge of.

"Yes, Eric. I wanted it to be you. But the matter was taken out of our hands, and as it was, I am not displeased to be the progeny of Christopher Santiago. He has always been a friend to me, and you know that I am not forced to love him nor bound to stay with him. He has his own love."

"That I do," said Christopher, looking at Simone with tenderness. "Don't worry, Northman, I will not interfere between you…unless she asks me to, of course. You have my blessing. Margaret loves you."

Sam could see that it galled Eric to be required to have Santiago's blessing at all, but the big blond vampire simply nodded in thanks.

"I do love you, Eric," Peggy said. "I am yours for as long as you want me."

Eric bent and kissed her, and refrained from giving any speech of his own, but he whispered something in Peggy's ear and Sam had no doubt that he was returning her words of affection.

"Know, however," Santiago said, after giving the lovers a moment, "That if you ever need somewhere to go, Margaret, you may come to me."

Peggy smiled and Eric frowned. "I've always known that, Christopher," she said. "Even before Godric… left."

"Godric was wise to put the two of you together," Santiago said.

"I'm glad he did," said Sookie. "Otherwise, I would never have got to meet you, Peggy. You are one of my best friends, you know. And now I don't even have to listen to you think about how great Eric is in bed all the time."

Eric grinned, Santiago chuckled, Pam rolled her eyes, and Anne Marie shook her head.

"Sookie!" Bill grumbled. Sookie had the good grace to blush.

"Thank you, Sookie," said Peggy, "It will be a relief to know you can't get inside my mind any more as well."

"You will have to tell her out loud how great I am in bed," said Eric.

"She do dat anyway," said Anne Marie. "You know you one my bes' frens too, Peggy, and dat don't change none because you a vampire, you."

"I'm so glad that you've learned to be more tolerant of us," Simone said genuinely. "Now if only you can bring Nicolas around. I miss him, you know."

"I see what I kin do," Anne Marie promised. "But now, me an' Sam jes wanta go home."

"I imagine we will follow in no more than a week," said Bill.

"Gosh, I hope so," said Sookie. "I confess, I'm ready to go back as well."

"I'm in no hurry to leave," said Pam.

"I was considering sending you ahead to check on Fangtasia," Eric told her. She glared at him, then went back to looking bored.

"Whatever."

"Are you eager to get back, Eric?" Peggy asked.

"No," Eric replied. "I think New Orleans is a good place for you to learn more about what you have become."

"That is, murders are more easily covered up here," Santiago said merrily.

"I haven't killed anyone!"

"Not yet," said Eric. "But it is hard for young vampires."

"I haven't even fed on a human," Peggy pointed out. "I've been drinking gallons of True Blood."

"You are so missing out," said Pam.

"I'll gladly teach you," said Santiago gallantly.

"I will teach her," said Eric, glaring at him.

Before the battle could escalate, Sam stood up. "If you'll excuse me, we're going to be on our way. We have a long drive back to Bon Temps."

Everyone said their good-byes. Sookie and Peggy hugged Anne Marie, and Simone walked them to the door and hugged both of them. It was a strange sensation to be hugged by a vampire, but Sam endured it. He liked Simone. They shook hands, and a young man brought the car they were borrowing around. It was a black Porsche and Sam balked at the thought of driving it.

"You don't have something more like a truck?" he asked.

Simone laughed. "Christopher wouldn't be caught headless in a truck, Sam," he said. "Besides, I think you'll like it once you get used to it."

Before Sam could debate the matter further, Anne Marie got behind the wheel. Sam grinned, shrugged, and slipped into the passenger seat.

"I let you take over when we get out of the city," she promised Sam, "Now buckle up, you." And then she blew out of like French Quarter like a bat out of Hell.

Once they passed the city limits, the Metairie Cemetery, and were on their way North, Sam began to relax. They were alone. They were away from the madness of Mardi Gras, the city, and the vampires. Even though Anne Marie drove like a wild woman, somehow Sam managed to doze off as the car sped through the night.

He wasn't sure how long he slept, but they were still driving when he opened his eyes again. It was dark, and the road was deserted except for the Porsche. He glanced over at Anne Marie. She had her eyes on the road, and was humming softly along with the radio.

"You look so beautiful," Sam murmured.

She glanced over at him and smiled. "Do I?"

"Yep. Most beautiful girl I've ever seen," Sam said.

"I love you, Sam," Anne Marie said very softly.

"I love you, too, sweetheart," he replied. Anne Marie smiled, and then she was quiet for a long moment. Sam relaxed back into the seat and nearly began to doze again.

"Sam?" she asked, waking him up.

"Yes?"

"I got to tell you somethin'."

Now he was fully awake. "What is it, Anne Marie?"

"I'm pregnant."

[the end]


End file.
